(3^ 


/*T/G. 


/S^/U 


THE 


IDEAL  PREACHER 


REV.  JOHN  I.  SWANDER,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D  ,  F.  S.  Sc. 


Author  of  "The  Substantial  Philosophy,"  "Text  Book  on 

Sound/'     "The    Invisible    World,"     "The    Reformed 

Church/'   "The  Swander  Family,"   "Old  Truths 

IN  New  Form,"   "The  Evolution  of/Keligio'n/' " 

"The  Divinity  of  Our  Lord,"   "The  Mer- 

CERSBURG    Theology/'    Autobiography 


AND  Selected  Works  of  Dr.  Swan-x'^^R'^  Or  rrUr^^j-Q 
der.  "Seeing  The  Invisible/""  x    v^ 

JAN  le   1989 


A  COURSE  OF  LECTURES 

Delivf:red  in  the  Theological    Seminary   of  the  Reformed 

Church  in  the  United   States,   at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  on- 

THE  Foundation  of  the   Sw^ander  Lectureship,  and 

Published  Under  the  Directory  of  the  Faculty. 


CLEVELAND,    OHIO 

CENTRAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE 

1914 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  PAGE 

I.  Ministerial   Authority  —  Its   Source,    Scope   and 

Limitations  1 

II.  The  Ministerial  Motive 15 

III.  The  Ministerial  Message 32 

lY.  The  Ministerial  Message — Continued 46 

V.  The  Ministerial  Message — Concluded 62 

VI.  The  Ideal  Preacher's  View  of  the  Relation  Be- 
tween God's  Remedial  Kingdom  and  the  Other 
Institutions  of  Divine  Ordination 78 

VII.  The  Supernatural  Source  of  the  Ideal  Preacher's 

Efficiency 94 

VIII.  The  Ideal  Preacher  as  a  Christian  Philosopher. .   107 

IX.  The  Ideal  Preacher's    Sermonic    Use  of  Divine 

Revelation 125 

X,  The  Ideal  Preacher's  Sermonic  Use  of  the  Bible 

and  the  Pericopes 145 

XI.  Art  as  an  Element  in  the  Ideal  Preacher's  Ser- 
mon and  its  Delivery 161 

XII.  The  Ideal    Under- Shepherd's    Relation    to    the 

Lambs  of  the  Flock 180 

XIII.  The  Ideal  Preacher  as  an  EvangeHst 199 


Hi 


FOUNDATION 

OF  THE 

Swander  Lectureship 


The  Swander  Lectureship  in  the  Theological  Seminar}'  of 
the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States,  located  at  Lan- 
caster, Pa.,  was  founded  by  the  Reverend  John  L  Swander, 
D.  D.,  and  his  wife,  Barbara  Kimmell  Swander,  for  the  two- 
fold purpose  of  promulgating  sound  christological  science  and 
of  erecting  a  memorial  to  their  daughter,  Sarah  Ellen  Swan- 
der, bom  April  30th,  1862,  died  September  29th,  1879 ;  and  to 
their  son,  Nevin  Ambrose  Swander,  born  August  7th,  1863, 
died  March  29th,  1884.  It  shall  be  known  as  the  "Sarah  Ellen 
and  Nevin  Ambrose  Swander  Lectureship."  For  its  main- 
tenance a  sum  of  money  was  given  to  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  said  Theological  Seminary,  the  interest  of  which  is  to 
be  applied  for  the  publication  of  lectures  in  book  form,  in 
accordance  with  the  conditions  defined  by  the  terms  which 
accompanied  the  convej-ance  of  the  fund  into  the  hands  of 
the  aforenamed  Board  of  Trustees. 

These  lectures  are  delivered  by  members  of  the  Faculty  of 
the  Theological  Seminary,  and  others  whom  the  Faculty  may 
select  and  secure  for  such  service;  and  while  the  said  Faculty 
shall  guard  diligently  against  the  admission  of  anything  into 
these  memorial  volumes  at  variance  with  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,  they  shall  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  views  of  the 
individual  lecturers. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 


LECTURE  I 
MINISTERIAL  AUTHORITY. 

Its  Source^  Scope  and  Limitations. 

The  proper  and  thorough  discussion  of  this  sub- 
ject must  start,  like  all  other  logical  inquiries,  with 
one  or  more  assumptions,  and  with  the  probability 
that  the  truth  of  such  assumptions  will  manifest  it- 
self more  and  more  until  it  finds  itself  confirmed  and 
glorified  in  an  incontrovertible  conclusion. 

First,  It  must  be  assumed  that  the  Bible  as  a  col- 
lection of  Canonical  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  is  a  duly  authenticated  record  of  a  revela- 
tion of  truth  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  realm  of  ra- 
tional and  ethical  being. 

Second,  That  the  source  of  such  revelation  is  the 
eternal  and  personal  God,  the  Fountain  Head  of  all 
principalities,  powers  and  authority  in  Heaven  and 
on  earth. 

Third,  That  the  medium  and  personal  fullness  of 
such  revelation  is  the  Son  of  God  who  was  made  or 
assumed  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  still  continues 
to  dwell  among  us  in  and  through  the  Holy  Spirit, 
full  of  grace  and  truth. 

Fourth,  That  the  Son  of  God  as  Immanuel,  has 
planted  and  is  now  developing  a  kingdom  upon  the 
earth  to  be  an  Everlasting  Kingdom,  and  to  rule 
over  all  by  gathering  up  into  itself  all  the  essential 


2  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

elements  in  all  the  lower  kingdoms  in  the  ascending 
series  of  nature's  economy,  to  the  end  that  Christ  may 
be  all  in  all  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father  in  the 
eternal  happiness  of  his  redeemed  people. 

Fifth,  That  this  kingdom  now  has  its  embodiment 
in  the  Church  which  is  not  only  pre-eminent  over  all 
mere  human  corporations  and  organizations,  but  also 
an  organism  or  the  mystical  "body  of  Christ"  for  the 
very  purpose  of  perpetuating  through  all  time  the 
remedial  and  completive  virtues  and  forces  of  the 
incarnation  until  all  "the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall 
return  and  come  to  the  heavenly  Zion,  with  songs 
of  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads,  when  sorrow 
and  sighing  shall  flee  away." 

Sixth,  That  in  all  the  ages  and  stages  of  its  de- 
velopment this  Messianic  Kingdom  has  in  itself  and 
acting  out  from  itself  agents  and  organs  heralding 
the  wall  of  the  King  and  the  mission  of  His  spiritual 
empire  upon  our  planet. 

Seventh,  That  these  agents  and  organs  include  a 
distinct,  yet  inseparable  class  of  men  called  and  an- 
ointed of  God  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace  with  his 
rebellious  subjects,  and  perpetuate  a  brotherhood  of 
all  who  surrender  themselves  to  become  new^-born 
children  of  their  Heavenly  Father,  and  consequently 
heirs  by  grace  to  that  inheritance  which  is  undefiled, 
incorruptible  and  that  fadeth  not  away. 

These  offices  or  agencies  are  not  separable  from 
the  organism  of  the  Church.  They  cannot  exist  out- 
side of  it.  The  ministry  is  endowed  with  functional 
authority  because  of  its  organic  connection  with  the 
church  in  which  it  is  grounded  and  through  which 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  3 

it  stands  so  vitally  related  to  Christ  as  to  derive  its 
authority  both  immediately  and  mediately  from  Him. 
Legitimate  ministerial  authority  is,  therefore,  not  so 
much  dependent  upon  direct  apostolic  succession  as 
it  is  upon  the  fact  of  Christological  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal procession.  A  house  of  bishops  presupposes  a 
complemental  house  of  the  laity.  And  there  can  be 
neither  without  the  Christian  Church  in  which  they 
both  stand  and  rejoice  in  the  hope  of  the  mediatorial 
glory  of  God's  incarnate  Son.  The  divine-human 
Head  implies  a  divine-human  "body  fitly  framed  and 
knit  together  by  virtue  of  that  spiritual  synovia 
which  every  joint  supplieth. "  Here,  then,  is  author- 
ity from  Christ,  because  of  life  and  power  in  Christ ; 
and  any  authority  used  by  a  minister  is  valid  only 
as  it  is  exercised  in  Christ's  name,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  directions  given  in  his  credentials  and  com- 
mission. 

Grounded  in  the  Christian  Church,  as  an  organic 
part  thereof,  an  ordained  agent  therein,  and  an 
ambassador  of  Christ,  the  authoritative  Head  thereof, 
the  minister  has  authority  to  exercise  all  his  minis- 
terial functions,  according  to  the  full  scope  of  his 
commission  as  such  ambassador.  His  official  author- 
ity, received  from  Christ  in  the  organism  of  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church,  is  as  broad  as  his  commission  and 
as  extensive  as  the  religious  and  ethical  necessities 
of  the  human  race. 

Christ's  Messianic  ministry,  although  he  was  sent 
by  the  Father,  proceeds  from  Himself  as  the  foun- 
tain head  of  all  remedial  virtue  and  authority :  The 
minister's   ambassadorial   authority   is   derived   from 


4  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Christ  in  accordance  with  his  ''Go  ye  therefore'^  and 
is  as  wide  as  the  open  door  to  the  field  of  his  oppor- 
tunities. 

Furthermore,  the  distinct,  yet  inseparable  func- 
tions of  the  Christian  ministry  are  not  only  derived 
from,  but  also  correspond  with  the  three  distinct  and 
inseparable  sides  of  Christ's  Messianic  character. 
Like  Christ,  before  him,  hack  of  him,  above  him,  and 
within  him,  the  minister  performs  official  acts  be- 
cause he  has  an  official  character.  In  this  respect, 
the  difference  between  Christ  and  his  ambassadors 
is  the  fact  that  while  Christ  is  the  Fountain  opened 
up  in  the  House  of  David  the  minister  merely  stands 
in  and  moves  forward  with  the  living  stream  of  life 
and  authority  whose  mission  it  is  to  "make  glad  the 
City  of  God,  the  habitation  of  the  Most  High." 

Moreover,  all  Christians,  whether  ordained  min- 
isters or  laymen,  or  laywomen,  are,  in  a  general  sense, 
partakers  of  Christ's  life  and  authority  because  of 
the  fulfilment  of  Joel's  prophecy:  "I  will  pour  out 
my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh;  and  your  sons  and  your 
daughters  shall  prophesy,  your  old  men  shall  dream 
dreams,  your  young  men  shall  see  visions:  and  also 
upon  the  servants  and  upon  the  handmaids  in  those 
days  will  I  pour  out  my  Spirit." 

Ever  since  the  Reformation  this  general  partici- 
pation in  Christ's  fullness  has  been  called  and  empha- 
sized the  general  priesthood  of  all  believers.  This 
was  and  is  in  distinction,  though  not  necessarily 
separable  from  the  more  special  Charisma  or  gift 
with  which  ordained  ministers  are  invested.  The 
general  ''priesthood^'  of  believers  is,  however,  a  term 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  5 

fully  commensurate  with  the  true  idea  of  all  that  may 
be  possessed  and  practiced  by  every  true  Christian. 

Perhaps  the  Heidelberg  Confession,  more  truly 
than  any  other  symbol  of  doctrine,  brings  out  this 
truth  in  Questions  31  and  32 :  "  Why  is  He  called 
Christ  that  is  Anointed?"  "Because  He  is  ordained 
of  God  the  Father  and  anointed  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
to  be  our  chief  Prophet  and  Teacher  who  fully  reveals 
to  us  the  secret  counsel  and  will  of  God  concerning 
our  redemption ;  and  our  holy  High  Priest,  who  by 
the  one  sacrifice  of  Himself  has  redeemed  us,  and  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us  with  the  Father; 
and  our  Eternal  King  who  governs  us  by  his  word 
and  Spirit,  and  defends  and  preserves  us  in  the  re- 
demption obtained  for  us."  "But  why  art  thou 
called  a  Christian?"  "Because  by  faith  I  am  a 
member  of  Christ  and  thus  a  partaker  of  his  anoint- 
ing." 

As  already  said,  this  partaking  of  Christ  and  his 
anointing  is  common  to  all  Christians;  yet  it  belongs 
more  specifically  to  ordained  ministers  to  govern,  in- 
tercede and  teach  in  his  name  and  by  his  authority — 
not  only  by  his  authority  over  them,  but  also  in  them 
and  through  them  as  thus  divinely  anointed  and 
appointed  by  him. 

In  the  Old  Testament  dispensation  these  several 
functions  of  Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  as  the  shadows 
of  better  things  to  come,  were  vested  in  three  dis- 
tinct classes  of  men,  the  Prophet  of  God,  the  High 
Priest  of  the  Sanctuary  and  the  King  of  Israel.  For 
example  it  may  be  cited  that  while  Nathan  was  the 
Prophet,  Zadock  was  the  Priest  and  David  the  King. 


6  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

At  the  close  of  that  dispensation,  these  several 
functions  were  embodied  in  the  Anointed  One,  The 
Christ.  Probably  this  fact  was  in  part  what  Paul 
meant  in  writing  to  the  Ephesians ;  1 :  10.  "  That 
in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times  he  might 
gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which 
are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth ;  even  in  him. ' ' 
Moreover  these  gifts  or  charisma  were  thus  concen- 
tered in  Christ  to  be  sequentially  and  qualifiedly 
conmiunicated  or  imparted  by  him  to  all  who  are 
vitally  united  with  him  in  his  mystical  body,  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church,  the  fulness  of  Him  who  filleth  all 
in  all. 

This  fact  is  therefore  to  be  emphasized  in  our 
present-day  hair-splitting  disputations  and  hair-pull- 
ing discussions  over  Catechisms,  Creeds  and  Eccles- 
iastical polities.  Authority  from  Christ  to  the  Chris- 
tian minister  is  not  communicated  merely  on  paper 
outside  of  the  parties  interested,  as  an  abstract  power 
of  attorney  authorizing  one  party  to  act  as  a  mere 
representative  of  the  other  and  greater  party,  but 
rather  by  virtue  of  a  historic  continuity  in  the  con- 
stitution of  concrete  and  organized  Christianity,  ex- 
tending thus  with  unbroken  succession  through  all 
time.  This  would  be  the  case  indeed  even  though  if 
by  some  calamity  all  the  Bibles  in  Christendom  were 
to  go  up  in  smoke.  The  self-perpetuating  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth  would  still  not  perish  from  the  earth, 
whether  men  were  ordained  by  bishops,  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands  of  the  presbytery,  or,  as  claimed  by 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  through  the  unbilical  chord. 

But  while  we  have  the  Bible  as  belonging  to  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  7 

great  ethical  plan  of  the  ages,  and  as  an  incarnation 
of  God's  "more  sure  word  of  prophecy"  whereunto 
we  do  well  to  take  heed,  it  must  be  held  as  above  tra- 
dition, yet  not  in  such  exclusive  way  as  to  ignore  all 
that  is  authoritatively  valuable  in  organized  and  his- 
toric Christianity.  Here  and  at  this  point  all  gen- 
uine and  intelligent  Protestantism  is  out  of  agree- 
ment with  the  utterances  from  the  Council  of  Trent 
that  all  ecclesiastical  traditions  approved  by  Ecumeni- 
cal Councils  have  didactic  authority  equal  to  that  of 
the  Bible.  " 

This  finally  brings  us  to  the  question  more  directly 
under  discussion  in  this  lecture,  viz. :  Who  is  to  give 
the  Bible  infallible  interpretation  for  the  preacher 
in  the  exercise  of  his  prophetic  function? 

Here  let  the  pope's  bulls  be  taken  by  the  horns 
with  the  declaration  that  no  one  is  able  so  to  inter- 
pret everything  in  the  Bible  as  to  reach  an  abso- 
lutely infallible  conclusion.  The  Bible  itself,  as  now 
constituted,  is  not  without  its  elements  of  human 
errancy,  although  God's  Woi^d — the  Divine  side  of 
the  book — "is  forever  settled  in  heaven"  (Psalm 
119:89).  Indeed  it  was  settling  itself  on  earth  and 
in  time  for  twenty-six  centuries  before  the  first  syl- 
lable thereof  was  statutorialized  on  stone  in  Mount 
Sinai ;  and  even  then  its  fragile  statutorial  form  was 
dashed  to  pieces  by  human  imperfection,  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountain. 

With  this  instructive  and  suggestive  lesson  before 
us,  let  us  now  meet  the  question  more  calmly  than 
did  Moses  when  he  lost  his  superlatively  devout  tem- 
per in   a   paroxysm   of  religious  zeal   for   holy   and 


8  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

sacred  things.  Conceding  that  all  the  original  manu- 
scripts of  the  Canonical  Scriptures,  including  St. 
James'  "Epistle  of  Straw/'  were  written  by  holy 
men  under  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  that  they  were  without  any  defects,  whatever; 
yet  the  generally  acknowledged  interpolations  by 
scribes  and  translators,  and  the  obviously  incorpor- 
ated parts  by  many  subsequent  and  conflictive  re- 
visions of  the  Bible  are  enough  to  lead  any  candid 
and  openminded  Christian  scholar  to  admit  that  the 
Book  now  contains  defective  elements  in  the  human 
side  of  that  most  important  and  trustworthy  of  all 
sacred  literature,  and  the  most  reliable  record  that 
we  have  of  the  world's  past  history. 

The  Pope  is  not  perfect  and  infallible  as  the  self- 
proclaimed  vice-gerent  of  Christ  in  regal  authority, 
in  his  pretentious  primacy  at  the  head  of  an  ecclesias- 
tical priesthood;  and  how  can  he  be  in  his  interpreta- 
tion of  all  the  mysteries  that  the  angels  have  vainly 
sought  to  fathom.  And  how  much  better  is  the  little 
narrow-contracted  papacy  of  exclusive  private  judg- 
ment when  the  self-isolated  individual,  esteeming 
himself  wiser  than  all  the  rest  of  Christendom,  puts 
his  own  theory  into  the  Bible  and  draws  it  out  again 
through  the  little  pipestem  of  his  own  opinion? 
Neither  is  it  any  better  to  say  that  the  Bible  inter- 
prets itself,  when  all  the  testimony  in  such  case  is  of 
necessity  passed  upon  by  the  same  individual  in  the 
exercise  of  private  judgment. 

The  ancient  and  more  modern  symbols  of  doctrine 
are  not  perfect.  Creeds  are  rather  the  apprehensions 
of  the  truth  by  various  schools  of  religious  philoso- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  9 

phy  in  the  respective  ages  that  formulated  and  gave 
them  birth,  instead  of  shackles  to  bind  and  paralyze 
the  freedom  of  all  the  ages  to  come.  For  this  reason 
even  the  best  of  creeds  must  be  subject  to  a  recast 
at  least  into  new  phrasings,  and  made  to  adjust  them- 
selves and  their  teachings  to  later  developments  of 
the  more  manifest  meaning  of  the  Bible  in  the 
broader,  brighter  splendor  of  recent  discoveries  in 
philology,  archeology,  ethics  and  religious  psychology. 
Not  that  truth  changes  in  its  essential  essence  and 
elements.  "The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers; 
*'Yet  modern  Christian  scholarship  may  lead  to 
many  modifications  of  ancient  apprehensions  of  the 
truth  as  reached  in  the  defective  ages  that  have 
already  rolled  away. 

But,  assuming  that  the  individual  minister  has 
authority  vested  in  him  immediately  from  Christ  and 
mediately  in  the  Church,  what  is  the  scope  and  what 
are  the  limitations  of  such  authority?  Certainly  its 
scope  does  not  extend  beyond  what  is  committed  to 
him  by  the  "great  Apostle  and  High  Priest  of  his 
profession,  Jesus  Christ."  Neither  is  such  authority 
limited  to  any  one  or  two  of  the  three  several  func- 
tions of  his  ministerial  office.  He  is,  in  some  quali- 
fied sense,  placed  in  possession  of  the  regal  function 
to  have  part  in  church  government.  Otherwise,  what 
can  there  be  in  the  language  of  the  Chief  Shepherd 
and  royal  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  His  announcement 
to  somebody;  "Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on  earth 
shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  ye  shall  un- 
bind on  earth  shall  be  unbound  in  heaven."  What 
would  be  the  use  of  the  "Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of 


10  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Heaven ' '  if  not  given  to  somebody  to  exercise  author- 
ity in  opening  the  doors  of  the  Church  and  in  closing 
them  in  administering  ecclesiastical  discipline?  Are 
we  ready  to  admit  from  our  proper  Protestant  stand- 
point that  these  keys  are  exclusively  in  the  hands  of 
St.  Peter  and  his  papal  successors  in  office  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber? 

Secondly,  the  minister  is,  in  some  limited  sense, 
a  Christian  priest.  Does  he  not  have  part  in  the  con- 
secratory  act  performed  in  holy  baptism?  Does  he 
not  offer  eucharistic  sacrifice  at  the  holy  communion? 
May  not  the  minister  who  as  a  preacher  proclaims  the 
promise  of  ablution  to  the  penitent  through  the  cleans- 
ing blood  of  Christ  also  pronounce  conditional  abso- 
lution by  the  authority  of  the  Great  High  Priest? 
Does  he  not  in  his  delegated  authority  intercede  for 
the  people  at  a  throne  of  grace,  and  pronounce  the 
benediction  upon  the  dispersing  assembly  ?  Are  these 
not  priestly  acts? 

Thirdly,  the  general  office  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try involves  the  preaching  or  teaching  function.  He 
is  a  prophet  or  herald  to  proclaim  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus.  This  prophetic  function,  though  not  more 
essential  than  the  regal  and  sacerdotal  in  the  full 
scope  of  his  anointing  authorizes  him  to  stand  out 
more  prominently  along  the  firing-line  of  God's  em- 
bannered  and  embattling  host.  It  is  the  most  obvious 
manifestation  of  God's  purpose  and  power  in  his  pro- 
gressive and  aggressive  kingdom  in  the  world.  Un- 
der the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  sermon 
authoritatively  calls  upon  the  world  to  bring  forth 
the  royal  diadem  and  crown  Immanuel  Lord  of  all. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  11 

Especially  is  it  thus  emphasized  since  Luther  un- 
chained the  Bible  at  Erfurt,  since  Zwingli  brought 
out  the  meaning  of  his  Greek  testament,  and  since 
John  Calvin's  Christian  Institutes  were  wrought  out 
in  the  laboratory-brain  of  the  Genevan  Reformer. 
For  one  thousand  years  previous  to  that  time  the  pul- 
pit had  been  crowded  back  into  a  corner  of  the  great 
cathedral  to  make  room  for  the  undue  prominence  of 
the  celebrant  and  his  priestly  mummeries.  The  Re- 
formation and  the  consequent  scintillations  of  greater 
evangelical  light  from  the  emancipated  Bible  have 
made  the  pulpit  and  the  prophetic  function  of  the 
minister  the  Gibraltar  of  all  genuine  Protestantism. 

But  even  in  Protestantism,  as  now  exploited  by 
many,  the  pulpit  is  not  inerrant  and  infallible.  Its 
prophetic  forces  are  too  generally  misdirected  or  its 
fragrance  lost  upon  the  desert  air.  While  the  Romish 
church  has  the  dry  rot.  Protestantism  has  its  fester- 
ing sores.  This  religious  condition  of  things  is  in 
part  the  result  of  the  evolution  of  the  germ-principle 
of  humanism  in  the  rennaissance  of  the  15th  century, 
carried  over  into  the  Reformation  in  the  16th  century, 
and  now  being  carried  out  to  its  ultimate  consequences^ 
in  our  disastrous  sect  system  and  religious  individ- 
ualism. The  predominancy  of  the  centripetal  trend 
in  the  pre-reformation  age  has  reached  over  to  the 
rampant  centrifugal  tendency  of  false  freedom. 
Freiheit  rules  the  camp,  the  crown,  the  court.  And 
perhaps  this  false  and  fatal  drift  is  nowhere  more 
obviously  manifest  than  in  some  of  our  so-called 
Protestant  pulpits.  All  that  some  novices  have  to  do 
to  become  spectangular  evangelists  is  to  sprout  their 


12  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

own  wings  and  graduate  from  the  gambling  house, 
the  saloon  or  in  some  den  of  unmentionable  infamy. 
Like  the  Egyptian  frogs,  these  pulpit  mountebanks 
leap  into  the  dough-trays  of  God's  sanctuary  and 
spawn  their  miserable  stuff  under  the  pretence  of 
ministerial  authority.  This  poisonous  float  is  labeled 
as  the  bread  of  life  and  palmed  off  upon  the  religious 
credulity  of  starving  men.  There  is  no  heavenly 
authority  for  such  damnable  hodge-podge.  Out  up- 
on such  travesty !  It  is  served  neither  by  the  author- 
ity nor  in  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  If  any  man  have 
not  the  quiet  and  orderly  spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none 
of  his,  whether  preacher  or  layman.  If  any  have  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  he  has  also,  in  some  degree,  the  mind 
of  the  Master.  This  the  true  minister  is  presumed 
to  have  in  a  sense  not  strictly  predicable  of  those  who 
have  not  been  clothed  upon  and  invested  with  the 
prophetic  function  and  the  corresponding  qualifica- 
tions and  ability  of  versatile  Christian  scholarship. 

Christ  spoke  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as 
a  scribe;  and  so  do  we.  The  day  of  Pentecost  has 
now  fully  come.  The  Apostolic  commission  has  been 
given.  The  Scribes  were  not  ambassadors  for  him. 
He  that  heareth  you  heareth  me,  saith  the  Lord.  As 
though  Christ  doth  beseech  the  world  by  us,  we  pray 
it  in  Christ's  stead  to  be  reconciled  to  God. 

Our  authority  is,  however,  limited  within  the  com- 
pass of  authority  derived.  He  spoke  as  one  having 
authority  in  himself,  and  as  peculiarly  related  to  the 
Father :  We  speak  as  many  having  authority  delegated 
by  him  to  men  related  ambassadorily  to  himself.  ''As 
my  Father  hath  sent  me,  so  send  I  you." 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  13 

Furthermore,  this  authority  from  Christ  and  the 
message  he  commits  unto  us  are  subject  to  limitation 
and  enlargement,  according  to  the  degree  in  which 
we  stand  mutually  related  to  him,  to  all  saints,  and 
in  touch  with  all  sound  theologians  and  to  the  whole 
body  of  the  Head.  This  truth  we  can  not  wave  aside 
as  a  mere  figure  of  rhetoric.  "I  in  them  and  they  in 
me."  Neither  can  religious  experience  be  ignored  as 
a  part  of  the  minister's  equipment.  Christ  speaks 
in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all  true  believers;  but 
especially  to  the  ministers  who  study  exegesis  upon 
their  knees,  and  when,  like  St.  Paul,  they  seek  to 
comprehend  with  all  saints.  The  minister  who  seeks 
to  comprehend  all  truth  in  and  by  himself,  will  prob- 
ably fail  to  comprehend  the  fact  that  he  is  a  clerical 
ass.  We  may  be  neither  able  nor  obliged  to 'believe 
all  the  doctrines  and  teachings  of  Christendom. 
Neither  need  we  endorse  blindly  all  that  is  set  forth 
in  the  creeds,  but  we  can  not  wisely  say  that  they 
were  all  fools  who  like  the  Church  Fathers  lived 
nearer  than  we  do  to  the  Fountain  Head  of  truth, 
and  received  their  inspiration  as  under  the  very 
breath  of  the  personal  truth  incarnate. 

Furthermore,  it  is  not  required  of  us  ministers  that 
our  sermons  and  teachings  be  absolutely  free  from 
all  error  in  doctrine  and  manner  of  presentation.  If 
our  Lord  himself  bare  our  infirmities;  if  the  Cap- 
tain of  our  salvation  was  made  perfect  in  some  sense 
through  suffering;  if  the  Bible  be  not  absolutely  free 
from  defects  peculiar  to  the  human  side  thereof;  if 
the  Church  be  not  yet  free  from  spots  and  wrinkles 
and  other  such  things,  it  should  not  be  expected  of 


14  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Tis  and  we  should  not  look  for  immaculacy  in  our- 
selves or  in  others.  However  pure  the  truth  of  God, 
we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels;  and  why 
should  we  expect  these  vessels  to  be  more  pure  than 
the  icicle  that  hung  from  the  eave  of  Diana's  temple"? 
Jf  we  now  know  only  in  part,  w^e  can  only  prophesy 
in  part.  And  only  when  that  which  is  perfect  is 
come  shall  we  know  as  we  are  known  and  see  as  we 
are  seen.  Till  then  we  can  do  no  better  than  to  arise 
and  go  to  Jesus,  and  say  unto  him  as  did  some  of  his 
disciples  of  old,  "Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  but  unto 
thee.  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life,  and  we 
know  and  are  assured  that  thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God." 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  15 


LECTURE  II 

The  Ministerial  Motive 

In  the  foregoing  lecture,  on  The  Ideal  Preacher, 
it  was  shown  and  seen  that  ministerial  authority  pre- 
supposes the  existence  of  the  great  mystery  of  God- 
liness, with  its  fountain  head  in  Immanuel ;  assumes 
that  the  Bible  is  the  most  divinely  inspired  and 
authenticated  record  of  the  revelation  which  God  has 
yet  made  of  his  will  to  man ;  that  there  is  a  class  of 
men  called,  ordained  and  authorized  to  negotiate  a 
treaty  of  peace  between  a  righteous  heaven  and  a 
rebellious  earth ;  that  this  class  of  men  or  ministers 
receive  their  commission  both  immediately  from 
Christ  and  mediately  through  the  Church  as  the 
embodiment  of  his  kingdom  in  the  world;  that  the 
source,  scope  and  limitations  of  such  ministerial 
authority  are  all  conditioned  upon  the  minister 's  vital 
and  organic  relation  to  Christ,  the  Anointed  One, 
in  his  messianic  character;  that  according  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Bible,  as  reflected  by  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  the  minister  is,  in  a  limited  sense,  officially 
a  prophet,  priest  and  king,  by  virtue  of  his  being  a 
partaker  by  faith  of  Christ 's  anointing ;  that  in  order 
to  make  his  ambassadorial  calling  and  election  sure, 
the  minister  must  stand  organically  in  the  Church 
which  is  Christ's  body  and  receive  his  credentials 
therefrom,  as  well  as  in  personal  touch  with  Christ 
himself,  the  immediate  source  of  such  ministerial 
authority;    that    he    should    have    an    experimental 


16  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

knowledge  of  Christ  and  know  the  power  of  his  resur- 
rection in  order  to  become  a  workman  in  Christ's 
vineyard  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly 
dividing  the  word  of  everlasting  truth;  and  finally, 
after  he  has  fully  complied  wdth  all  these  conditions, 
and  availed  himself  of  all  these  means  of  ministerial 
efficiency,  and  conditions  of  ministerial  success,  he 
will  still  have  reason  to  acknowledge  the  limitation 
of  his  power,  and  exclaim  with  the  prophet  of  old : — 
Who  is  able  for  these  things? 

Next  in  importance  to  authority  from  above  is  the 
question  of  proper  actuation  from  within.  In  the 
case  of  a  true  minister,  the  voice  from  heaven  is  sup- 
plemented, or  rather  complemented  by  a  correspond- 
ing voice  from  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  the  soul. 
These  two  testimonials  in  mutual  harmony  with  each 
other,  are  indispensable  to  the  fulness  of  a  genuine 
call  to  the  ministry.  The  authority  that  speaks  from 
above  has  its  echo  in  the  proper  ministerial  motive. 
The  subjective  must  respond  to  the  objective,  to  make 
our  common  Christian  calling  sure  to  that  inheri- 
tance which  is  ''undefiled,  incorruptible  and  fadeth 
not  away."  How  much  more,  then,  is  it  the  case  in 
the  minister  whose  duties  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord 
are  more  specific,  whose  responsibilities  are  more  tre- 
mendous and  whose  scope  of  action  is  more  official. 

As  we  may  never  be  able  to  understand  fully  the 
eternal  cause  of  the  infinite  impulse  that  first  moved 
heaven  to  come  down  to  our  planet  and  ransom  a 
world  from  the  poison  and  power  of  human  sin,  so 
may  we  never  be  able  to  know  just  how  the  myster- 
ious process  of  forming  the  proper  ministerial  motive 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  17 

in  the  laboratory  of  the  human  soul,  nor  the  exact 
nature  of  the  ethical  protoplasts  that  form  the  proper 
incentive  in  the  true  aspirant  to  the  holy  ministry 
of  the  gospel.  The  impulse  that  moves  us  to  ordinary 
duty  originates  so  mysteriously  in  the  fecundous 
womb  of  ethical  forces  that  we  can  know  neither  the 
principle  of  its  substance  nor  the  manner  of  its  evolu- 
tion. How  much  more  inscrutable  and  past  finding 
out  must  be  the  origin  and  unfolding  of  the  minis- 
terial motive  that  properly  impels  a  man  to  become 
a  worthy  watchman  on  the  walls  of  Zion.  Probably 
the  most  and  the  best  that  can  be  said  upon  this 
point  is  that  it,  like  many  other  profound  truths,  be- 
longs to  that  sublime  reality,  and  yet  unfathomable 
mystery  to  which  the  angels  themselves  are  not  able 
to  adjust  the  angle  of  their  vision. 

Perhaps  the  nearest  approach  that  can  be  made 
toward  the  philosophic  solution  of  the  question  as  to 
whence  and  why  a  man  is  impelled  by  such  a  proper 
motive  is  to  be  found  in  the  truth  that  he,  having  been 
created  in  the  image  of  God,  and  having  been  restored 
to  that  image  through  regeneration,  is  moved  by  the 
heavenly  force  planted  in  him,  in  virtue  of  such  new 
birth,  to  seek  and  reflect  the  original  of  that  which 
he  is  the  likeness,  and  to  bring  the  whole  creation 
back  to  Him  "of  whom,  by  whom  and  unto  whom  are 
all  things."  Anything  short  of  such  a  pure,  un- 
selfish and  comprehensive  desire  does  not  measure 
up  to  the  requirement  that  seems  to  have  been 
nominated  in  the  bond  of  man's  proper  relation  to 
his  Maker.  A  proper  ministerial  motive  includes 
more  than  a  desire  to  save  souls  from  hell  and  conse- 

2 


18  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

quently  have  many  stars  in  the  ministerial  crown. 
The  incentive  of  an  intelligent  theologian  and  Chris- 
tian philosopher  in  desiring  the  office  of  a  bishop, 
while  it  aims  at  the  salvation  of  men  from  sin  and 
death,  includes  also  the  broader  aim  and  ambition 
to  have  part  in  bringing  the  whole  ethical  universe 
back  to  the  normal  relation  it  sustained  to  its  Maker 
before  the  occurrence  of  the  great  catastrophe  in 
Eden,  in  which  the  whole  creation  was  "made  sub- 
ject to  vanity."  Yet,  since  not  all  preachers  can  be 
profound  theologians  and  speculative  philosophers, 
the  scope  of  their  motive  and  the  law  of  its  limita- 
tions may  find  its  proper  measure  in  the  apostolic 
commission. 

In  what  sense  and  to  what  extent  such  motive 
may  be  an  inborn  principle  in  the  man  himself,  as  a 
product  of  natural  birth,  without  favorable  environ- 
ments or  without  transmission  in  germinal  form  from 
a  religious  ancestry  is  a  question  more  interesting 
than  easy  of  solution.  That  it  is  sometimes  measur- 
ably transmitted  along  the  line  of  hereditary  piety 
may  be  assumed  to  be  as  true  as  the  divine  promise 
that  "the  righteousness  of  the  Lord  is  unto  children's 
children  to  those  who  keep  his  covenant  and  remem- 
ber his  commandments  to  do  them."  The  unfeigned 
faith  that  was  in  Timothy  had  dwelt  first  in  his 
grandmother  Lois  and  in  his  mother  Eunice.  And  is 
it  not  reasonably  presumable  that  along  that  same 
hereditary  line  of  the  transmission  of  "faith,"  Timo- 
thy inherited  also  the  germ-principle  of  an  incentive 
to  "desire  the  office  of  a  bishop."  Indeed  it  may  be 
regarded  as  no  rare  occurrence  that  when   God  in- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  19 

tends  to  raise  up  a  good  man  for  a  great  mission  he 
starts  the  process  in  the  preparatory  departments  of 
a  pious  ancestry,  and  carries  it  forward  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  until  the  motive  and  the  man  are 
matured  and  glorified  together  in  the  completion  of 
the  divine  purpose. 

However,  or  wherever  its  order  of  development, 
the  worthy  and  sincere  minister's  motive,  as  to  its 
essence,  is  simply  love  to  God  and  love  for  man. 
"The  love  of  Christ  constrain eth  us."  This  mys- 
terious fountain  of  divine  beneficence,  which  has  its 
origin  in  the  bosom  of  God,  and  which  flows  forth 
through  Christ  and  onward  in  his  Church,  will  never 
cease  to  constrain  men  to  the  gospel  ministry,  until 
in  its  returning  tide  it  calms  its  current  in  the  crystal 
sea. 

What  an  impulse  in  the  bosom  of  God!  What  a 
propulsive  power  in  the  ethical  universe !  What  an 
incentive  in  the  fully  consecrated  minister  of  the 
gospel!  No  wonder  that  there  is  a  "glorious  com- 
pany of  the  apostles,  a  goodly  fellowship  of  the 
prophets  and  a  noble  army  of  martyrs ! ' '  The  great- 
est of  all  is  charity. 

"When  love  speaks,  the  voice  of  all  the  gods 
Makes  heaven  drowsy  with  the  harmony." 

This  proper  motive  for  entering  the  Christian  min- 
istry, though  not  identical  with  a  genuine  call  there- 
to, is  nevertheless,  inseparable  therefrom.  This  dis- 
position of  heart  and  mind  is  necessary  to  the  proper 
ordination  of  a  minister  as  his  "actual  investiture 
with  the  very  power  of  the  office  itself,  the  seal  of 


20  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

his  heavenly  commission,  the  assurance  from  on  high 
that  his  outward  consecration  to  the  ambassadorial 
service  of  Christ  is  accepted,  and  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
will  most  certainly  be  with  him  in  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  his  official  duties." 

A  proper  motive  in  the  candidate  for  the  min- 
istery  is  not  something  ah  extra  or  a  quantity  of 
something  from  without,  added  to  what  the  man  is 
supposed  to  already  possess  in  germ  and  possibility 
of  proper  development.  It  is  not  a  strictly  supple- 
mentive  creation  de  novo.  The  motive  of  the  Christ- 
ian, back  of  the  minister,  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  a  regenerated  disposition  to  do  something; 
just  as  Christian  faith  is  regenerated  reason.  Such 
faith  is  not  a  strictly  new  function  brought  into  the 
soul  from  without.  In  this  particular,  at  least,  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  is  up-to-date.  According  to 
Question  21,  the  Holy  Ghost  works  faith  in — ^not  into 
— the  heart  of  the  receptive  subject  through  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel.  So  the  motive  of  the  Christ- 
ian to  serve  as  a  minister  in  the  economy  of  God's 
kingdom  as  embodied  in  the  Church,  is  not  a  for- 
eign importation,  but  a  rightly-directed  development, 
under  the  present  power  of  the  heavenly  world,  of 
a  concrete  germ  and  possibility  already  in  the  soul, 
as  a  constituent  element  therein.  This  motive  is  al- 
ready more  or  less  quickened  and  developed  in  all 
Christians.  They  have  "small  beginnings"  of  a  de- 
sire to  minister  unto  the  wants  of  others,  rather  than 
a  mere  wish  to  be  ministerd  unto.  The  difference  is 
that  in  properly  elected  ministers  or  preachers  this 
motive  is  more  specific  and  intense  as  they  hear  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  21 

heavenly  call  to  the  more  special  work  in  the  vineyard 
of  their  Lord. 

The  proper  ministerial  motive,  furthermore,  re- 
mains the  same,  as  to  its  essential  contents,  through 
all  the  ages  of  God's  kingdom  of  grace  and  truth. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Church  is  con- 
stantly in  the  process  of  developing  its  life-principle, 
as  conceived  in  the  eternal  purpose  of  the  Father, 
quickened  by  the  incarnation  of  the  Son,  and  brought 
to  real  birth  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  it  remains  as  to  its  constituent  essentials,  like 
its  divine-human  head,  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever 
the  same.  For  this  reason  there  can  be  no  radical 
change  in  the  incentive  that  moves  men  to  enter  the 
holy  ministry.  The  genuine  desire  and  purpose  of  the 
modern  evangelic  preacher  are  not  different  in  their 
essentials  from  that  which  constrained  Paul  not  to  be 
disobedient  ''to  the  heavenly  vision"  and  the  old 
prophet  to  exclaim;  "For  Zion's  sake  1  will  not  hold 
my  peace,  and  for  Jerusalem's  sake  I  will  not  rest." 
It  could  not  be  otherwise  indeed,  for  the  very  suffi- 
cient reason  that  the  true  ministerial  motive  in  the 
elect  preacher  is  not  born  of  the  flesh  nor  of  the  mere 
will  of  man  but  always  of  the  will  of  Him  who  said 
"Ye  have  not  (primarily)  chosen  me,  but  I  have 
chosen  you  and  ordained  you." 

Neither  is  this  divine  order  essentially  changed  by 
the  fact  that  the  power  and  responsibility  of  electing 
men  to  the  office  of  the  holy  ministery  assert  and 
manifest  themselves  through  the  organized  community 
of  believers.  And  if  preachers  are  sufficiently  moved 
toward  the  holy  ministery,   by  the  heavenly  power 


22  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

that  reaches  them  from  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  the 
Church,  the  motive  thus  begotten  or  conceived  in 
their  hearts  must  be  not  only  the  product,  but  must 
also  partake  of  the  very  substance  of  the  Church  her- 
self. Hence  the  general  ministerial  motive  has  beei) 
essentially  the  same  in  all  ages  and  stages  and  chang- 
ing conditions  of  God's  kingdom  on  earth,  and  will 
so  continue  until  the  church  militant  is  caught  up 
into  the  paradise  of  God. 

The  King's  business  requires  many  elements  of 
fitness  in  his  ambassadors;  yet  among  all  these  quali- 
fications there  is  none  of  more  superlative  importance 
that  a  pure  and  unselfish  motive  moving  them  to 
choice  and' action.  Without  such  holy  incentive,  no 
man  can  hope  to  be  fully  qualified  to  speak  by  heaven- 
ly authority.  This  is  the  wedding  garment  at  the 
great  gospel  festival  without  which  the  clerical  guests 
ought  to  remain  speechless.  Broad  intelligence,  ver- 
satile scholarship,  heavenly  pathos  and  holy  passion, 
with  all  the  magnetic  mastery  of  burning  eloquence 
in  the  awful  realm  of  a  prolific  imagination,  are  only 
secondary  in  their  value,  when  compared  with  that 
incentive  of  the  soul  and  the  secret  spring  of  charac- 
ter in  those  who  stand  on  Zion's  hill  to  preach  the 
everlasting  gospel  and  minister  in  the  mysteries  of 
godliness  at  the  altar  of  the  Most  High.  Proper 
motive  directs  the  formation  of  worthy  personality, 
determines  the  quality  of  excellent  choice  and  stamps 
the  divine  impress  of  approval  upon  the  real  merit 
of  moral  heroism  in  all  the  spheres  and  activities  of 
human  life,  but  most  of  all  in  the  life  of  the  ambas- 
sador for  Christ. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  23 

It  should  not  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing  test 
or  standard  applied  to  the  ministerial  character  that 
such  excellency  is  required  or  attainable  without  some 
degree  of  defect  in  even  the  most  eminent  of  God's 
servants.  Neither  should  the  author  be  understood 
as  teaching  that  all  men  who  are  lawfully  called  into 
the  ministery  of  Jesus  Christ  must  be  able,  as  Tim- 
othy, to  show  the  evidence  of  hereditary  preparation 
for  the  responsibilities  of  the  episcopal  trust  in  "the 
Church  w^hich  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth." 
Furthermore,  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  their 
calling  and  election  to  such  a  high  and  important 
position  must  be  accompanied  by  the  flashes  of  a 
peculiarly  supernatural  light  as  in  the  case  when  Saul 
of  Tarsus  was  changed  into  Paul  of  Damascus,  or  in 
the  case  of  John  the  Baptist,  the  personal  harbinger 
of  Christ,or  in  Samuel  the  old  prophet.  There  are 
many  potential  Philips  and  embryonic  ''Isrealites 
indeed"  like  Nathaniel  under  the  fig-tree,  foreseen 
of  the  Master,  whose  place  in  the  Master's  plan  and 
purpose  is  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Him 
of  whom  Moses,  in  the  Law  and  the  prophets  did 
write. 

Neither  should  the  foregoing  claims  lead  anyone 
to  the  conclusion  that,  in  view  of  such  rarity  and 
absence  of  similar  prevenient  preparation  and  form 
of  call  to  the  gospel  service,  there  can  now  be  no 
proper  motive  or  incitement  in  sincere  men  to  desire 
and  choose  the  office  of  a  bishop  and  '^do  the  work 
of  an  evangelist."  The  methods  sanctioned  and  em- 
ployed by  the  King  in  the  formative  periods  of  his 
kingdom  on  earth  and  in  time,  are  no  longer  in  gen- 


24  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

era!  use,  since  this  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand  to  be 
promoted  in  the  world  by  the  more  ordinary  methods 
authorized  for  its  perpetuation.  And  yet  it  should 
not  for  a  moment  be  supposed  that  such  change  in 
Christ's  process  of  procedure  in  calling  and  qualify- 
ing ministers  for  the  work  which  the  Father  gives 
them  to  do,  implies  any  lowering  of  the  standard 
governing  the  motive  which  should  incite  them  to 
enter  the  hallowed  arena  of  men's  highest  possible 
activity,  and  contend  lawfully  for  the  prize  of  their 
high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus,  their  Lord. 

False  motives,  elastic  consciences  and  consequent 
perfunctory  performances  in  semi-secular  clergymen 
contribute  largely  to  the  disastrous  trend  of  mistaken 
utilitarianism  in  religion.  Hence  it  is  that  the  high- 
way of  Zion  is  strewn  with  apostate  preachers,  the 
wrecks  of  clerical  characters  and  the  cargoes  of  com- 
mercial commodities.  The  heresies  and  preverseness 
of  Simon  Magus,  the  Samaritan,  are  still  in  the  decad- 
ent tendencies  that  afflict  the  church  of  God  in  the 
19th  century  of  her  history.  The  minister  with  an 
improper  motive  is  frequently  found  to  foster  in  him- 
self, either  an  inordinate  love  of  mammon  or  that  un- 
hallowed ambition  by  which  the  angels  fell.  Hence 
his  desire  to  pose  upon  the  pedestal  of  pictistic  pre- 
tention, do  business  upon  false  capital,  get  his 
name  in  the  papers,  perform  as  a  star  actor  upon 
some  questionable  stage,  and  give  out  that  '' himself 
is  some  great  one ' '  in  the  social  arena  upon  which  are 
heard,  and  around  which  are  echoed  admirations  and 
adulation  of  frienzied  fools. 

Many    of   the    afflictions   now    resting    upon    the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  25 

Church,  like  the  scourge  of  Egyptian  frogs  upon 
Pharaoh's  subjects  of  old,  and  settling  down  upon  her 
sensitive  sores  like  swarms  of  unswatted  flies  are  oc- 
casioned by  and  attributable  to  unworthy  motives  in 
unworthy  ministers.  The  specific  nature  or  form  of 
such  clerical  defects  is  doubtless  superinduced  by  each 
individual  preacher's  predominant  psychological  ido- 
sjmcrasy.  Each  of  these  peculiar  predispositions  to- 
ward character  in  a  falsely  motived  preacher  is  sus- 
ceptible of  one  of  several  shades  of  development 
according  to  environments  or  prevailing  sentiment  of 
the  church  or  community  in  which  such  preacher  set- 
tles himself  for  business.  Indeed  the  mutual  force 
of  the  pastoral  relation  is  retroactive.  "And  it  shall 
be,  as  with  the  people,  so  with  the  priest"  (Isaiah 
24 :  2) .  This  reversal  of  the  normal  order  of  religious 
influence  indicates  an  abnormal  disorder  in  Zion.  The 
degree  of  such  disorder  and  moral  disease  is,  there- 
fore, partially  attributable  to  the  obvious  fact  that  the 
' '  priest ' '  or  minister  has  lost  his  proper  grip  upon  the 
situation,  as  the  result  of  not  being  properly  motived. 
Perhaps  there  is  no  greater  occasion  to  the  temp- 
tation now  alluring  some  young  men  to  a  develop- 
ment of  one  or  more  of  several  possible  false  motives 
to  enter  the  gospel  ministry  by  "climbing  up  some 
other  way,"  than  that  which  is  found  in  the  seem- 
ingly unavoidable  working  out  of  our  beneficiary  sys- 
tem of  education.  How  saddening  the  fact  that  the 
Church's  purest  purpose  in  systematic  charity  is  sus- 
ceptible of  perversion  by  unworthy  beneficiaries. 
Benevolence  in  church-extension  enterprise  creates 
the  occasion  for  maleficence  in  the  concealment  of  real 


26  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

character,  under  assumed  virtue  in  nominal  religion. 
The  beneficiary  board  challenges  young  men  who  pro- 
fess to  be  called  to  the  gospel  ministry  and  offers  them 
financial  help  in  the  solution  of  the  scholastic  problem 
in  their  preparation  for  that  high  and  holy  office. 
Some  of  them  are  worthy,  and  receive  such  assistance 
with  a  full  realization  as  to  what  the  spirit  of  the 
mutual  contract  properly  implies.  Moved  by  a  holy 
impulse  formed  within  them,  under  the  powers  of  the 
heavenly  world,  they  lay  themselves  upon  the  altar 
of  the  gospel  in  full  surrender  and  consecration  of 
all  that  they  are  and  have  in  body,  soul  and  spirit. 
Such  Philips  and  Nathaniels  are  Israelites  indeed  in 
whom  there  is  no  dissembling  guile.  Others  who 
have  not  been  delivered  from  all  pride,  vainglory  and 
hypocrisy  receive  the  assistance  to  gratify  some  car- 
nal ambition,  luxuriate  themselves  in  the  hope  of 
realizing  imaginary  ease,  or  in  the  expectation  of 
parading  themselves  before  the  public,  under  a  false 
masque,  as  gods  of  popular  idolatry,  with  the  an- 
ticipation of  basking  themselves  in  the  stolen  sunshine 
of  social  refinement. 

There  is  probably  no  class  of  men  more  unfit  for 
the  ministry  than  those  worthless  imitations  of  man- 
kind who  are  constitutionally  indolent.  Such  indo- 
lence combined  with  a  dissembling  disposition,  pro- 
duce the  abominations  of  desolation  standing  in  the 
holy  place  of  consecration.  It  matters  but  little 
whether  such  indolence  is  of  a  mental  or  physical 
type.  It  is,  however,  still  worse  when  the  clerical 
invalid  is  afflicted  with  the  disease  in  its  complicated 
form.     ' '  They  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin, ' '  except 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  27 

when  they  spin  pulpit  yarns  as  labor-saving  substi- 
tutes for  sermons  which  require  work.  Instead  of  re- 
maining on  the  outside  of  the  vineyard  waiting  for 
some  man  to  hire  them,  they  crowd  through  the  gate 
before  the  eleventh  hour  to  lounge  and  luxuriate  all 
day  in  ease  and  slothfulness.  They  are  entirely  out 
of  place.  The  gospel  ministry  is  the  last  place  in  the 
world  for  lazy  men.  They  are  both  intolerable  and 
incurable.  No  serum  has  yet  been  discovered  suffi- 
ciently powerful  to  eradicate  such  microbes  from  the 
lazy  preacher's  system.  They  will  remain  hopelessly 
incurable  unless  they  should  find  a  cure  in  an  allo- 
pathic dose  of  purgatory.  For  such  the  gates  of 
heaven  never  stand  ajar.  We  read  of  the  penitent 
thief  having  the  promise  of  paradise,  and  that  many 
Gentiles  shall  come  from  the  East  and  from  the  West 
and  sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  but  the  Holy  Scriptures  give-  the 
lazy  minister  no  assurance  that  he  will  ever  pass  the 
heavenly  portals ;  and  should  he  by  some  miraculous 
transition  be  floated  through  the  gate  into  the  celes- 
tial city,  it  is  not  probable  that  the  angels  would  be 
superlatively  jubilant  over  his  arrival. 

Another  class  of  unworthy  ministers  includes  those 
whose  chief  motive  is  to  obtain  false  aggrandizement 
and  cheap  notoriety.  To  accomplish  such  an  end  a 
correspondingly  superficial  education  is  required.  To 
acquire  such  an  education  money  must  be  obtained 
from  some  source.  A  false  position  is  therefore 
assumed  for  the  purpose  of  leaving  a  false  impression. 
Consequently  they  deceive  the  very  elect  members 
of  the  beneficiary  board,  who  are  sometimes  superla- 


28  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

tively  zealous  in  the  work  of  making  perfunctory 
preachers.  The  church  is  appealed  to  to  open  the  chal- 
ices of  her  charity  and  pour  her  new  wine  into  old 
goat-skins.  The  miserable  monsters  in  disguise  are 
matriculated  into  a  college  and  seminary  course,  and 
the  mill  begins  to  grind  the  grist  of  cheat  and  smut. 
The  flour  is  not  improved  very  much  by  the  false  senti- 
ment and  stimulating  methods  that  cling  to  and  shape 
the  curriculum  up  to  the  day  of  graduation.  The 
young  bachelors  of  divinity  are  licensed  and  ordained 
to  the  ministry  with  too  little  inquiry  as  to  the  real 
motives  of  the  candidates  for  a  sinecure  in  the  holy 
office.  They  enter  upon  the  performance  with  no  clear 
consciousness  as  to  what  has  brought  them  to  the  stage. 
Their  original  motive  is  now  put  to  the  test,  and  their 
work  is  tried  of  what  sort  it  is.  Soon  it  begins  to 
dawn  upon  their  false  vision  that  the  real  excellency 
of  the  gospel  and  their  consecration  thereto  is  not  just 
what  is  called  for  by  their  carnal  ambition.  The 
darnel  seed  which  was  sown  for  wheat  has  reached 
that  degree  of  germination  and  development  which 
reveals  its  real  nature.  The  goat-skins  begin  to  burst, 
and  the  near-wine  escapes  by  the  force  of  its  false 
fermentation. 

These  apocryphal  preachers  thus  find  themselves 
so  fully  consecrated  to  the  cause  of  self  and  selfish- 
ness as  to  be  ready  to  resign  their  maiden  charge 
and  "see  their  way  clear"  to  go  anywhere  according 
as  the  Lord  calls  them  to  higher  salaries,  easier  work, 
greater  usefulness  in  the  gratification  of  vanity  and  a 
wider  opening  for  ephemeral  notoriety.  The  print- 
ing press  must  now  bring  them  before  the  public. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  29 

They  advertise  their  sermons  in  catch  phrasings,  and 
seemingly  seek  to  bring  out  the  more  excellent  glory 
of  the  old  gospel  in  the  novel  glimmerings  of  their 
spluttering  tallow-dips.  They  are  ready  for  every 
new  movement  that  tacitly  ignores  the  essential  sub- 
stance of  the  old  faith  ''once  for  all  delivered  to  the 
saints."  They  discount  the  value  of  old  and  estab- 
lished truths  for  which  the  martyrs  died,  to  chase 
after  the  imcertainties  of  modern  religious  theories 
and  questionable  methods.  Opinions  are  substituted 
for  faith,  and  entertainment  for  devotion.  They  go 
into  sanctimonious  paroxysms  for  union  with  any- 
thing that  stammers  out: — "Lo!  here  is  Christ," 
while  they  divorce  themselves  from  the  sure  founda- 
tion and  most  sacred  traditions  of  Christendom. 
They  originated  in  Nebula  and  develop  themselves 
into  Saint  Jude's  wandering  stars — poor  little  plane- 
toids and  ass-teroids  ''to  whom  is  reserved  the  black- 
ness of  darkness  forever." 

This  occasion  to  abuse  the  confidence  of  the 
Church,  and  misuse  the  sacred  funds  of  her  benefi- 
ciary boards  becomes  more  alluring  to  unprincipled 
dissemblers  when  there  are  several  distinctive  schools 
of  theology  supported  and  controlled  by  different 
synods.  Each  synod  wishes  to  see  its  own  college 
and  seminary  patronized  and  the  ministry  recruited 
by  men  who  represent,  and  are  willing  to  labor  to 
promote  its  peculiar  type  of  theological  thought. 
Hence  holy  emulation  is  in  danger  of  becoming  un- 
hallowed competition  and  lead  to  practical  bribery. 
Unworthy  young  men,  finding  themselves  challenged 
and  counter-challenged  by  the  over  zealous  agents  of 


30  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

such  false  emulation,  will  naturally  be  tempted  to 
advance  the  price  of  their  questionable  commodities, 
and  accept  the  highest  price  offered  in  those  danger- 
ous transactions  which  are  equivalent  to  bribery  on 
the  one  hand  and  simony  on  the  other.  The  market 
place  of  disreputable  wares  stimulates  the  growth  of 
false  motives  to  enter  the  ministry,  and  has  the  bane- 
ful effect  of  filling  its  ranks  with  too  many  unworthy 
men,  instead  of  swelling  those  already  depleted  ranks 
with  good  and  sincere  ministers  whose  holy  ambition 
is  to  prove  themselves  worthy  of  fellowship  in  Christ's 
sufferings,  and  of  having  been  baptized  with  the 
baptism  with  which  the  great  Prince  of  Preachers  was 
baptized  when  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head. 

Whether  stimulated  by  the  hope  of  beneficent 
assistance  from  the  Church  or  prompted  primarily 
by  his  own  innate  desire  to  secure  something  for 
nothing,  a  young  man  is  incited  to  an  unworthy  life 
when  he  looks  upon  the  holy  ministry  as  an  easy 
calling  or  a  lucrative  position  in  which  he  may  make 
a  living  for  himself  and  family.  Such  an  incentive 
is  an  abomination  before  God  and  treason  to  the 
Church.  The  ambassadorial  office  is  too  sacred  in  its 
character  and  too  sfi/penduous  in  its  responsibilities 
to  be  made  primarily  shpendous  as  an  earthly  means 
to  prolong  a  miserable  existence.  Such  a  preacher 
classifies  himself  with  Judas  Iscariot  and  other  "sons 
of  perdition."  The  best  thing  that  such  candidates 
for  holy  orders  can  do  is  to  hang  themselves  before 
they  undergo  the  solemn  farce  of  an  empty  ordina- 
tion. 

Assuming  the  correctness  of  the  foregoing  ani- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  31 

madversions,  it  may  be  pertinent  to  the  subject  under 
consideration  to  raise  the  question  as  to  whether 
something  corrective  of  the  evil  should  not  and  could 
not  be  done  to  either  eliminate  or  diminish  the  pos- 
sibilities of  temptation  to  young  men  who  are  not, 
like  Caesar's  wife,  above  suspicion,  and  who  are  not 
beyond  the  power  of  pervertable  opportunities.  Less 
theological  seminaries  in  the  Church  would  not  only 
make  it  possible  to  increase  the  teaching  force  and 
efficiency  of  those  left  in  mutual  consolidation  and 
co-operation,  but  also  diminish  the  un-Christian  and 
unprofitable  contention  between  competitive  schools 
of  theology  and  discordant  methods  in  practical  relig- 
ion. Such  mutual  concentration  of  her  scholastic 
forces  would  obviously  enable  the  Church  to  select 
her  future  ministers  from  the  less  corruptible  men 
who  are  now  honestly  waiting  to  hear  and  to  heed 
the  proper  call  to  the  ambassadorial  office. 


32  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 


LECTURE  III 
The  Ministerial  Message 

The  last  lecture  was  devoted  to  an  inquiry  into 
the  motive  that  should  prompt  the  man  who  desires 
and  chooses  the  office  of  a  bishop.  It  was  shown 
and  seen  that  respect  for  authority  from  above  was 
the  source  of  corresponding  and  responsive  action 
from  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  the  preacher 's  soul ; 
that  motive,  more  than  any  other  factor,  determines 
the  character  of  the  man;  that  false  motives  lead 
some  candidates  for  the  holy  office  to  hold  low  and 
unworthy  views  of  that  high  calling;  that  young 
men  may  allow  themselves  to  be  appealed  to  by  hopes 
of  ease  in  indolence,  promises  of  a  livelihood  in  good 
Christian  society  and  seduced  by  an  inordinate  thirst 
for  enviable  notoriety;  that  the  holy  and  worthy 
cause  of  beneficiary  education  becomes  the  occasion 
of  temptation  to  young  men  whose  motives  have  not 
been  tested  and  whose  consciences  are  not  inelastic ; 
and,  finally,  that  the  Church  would  do  well  to  be  more 
considerately  cautious  and  economic  in  the  handling 
of  her  beneficiary  funds. 

Since  the  earliest  dawn  of  written  history  down 
to  this  present  time  there  has  been  a  growing  dis- 
agreement as  to  just  what  should  constitute  the  full 
and  proper  contents  of  a  religious  and  authoritative 
message  from  a  prophet  to  the  people  in  the  matter 
of  their  duty  to  God  in  time  and  their  dwelling  with 
God  in  the  eternal  world. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  33 

Beside  the  conflictive  harangues  of  heathen  oracles 
and  bewildered  reason  in  nominal  Christian  lands 
there  has  always  been  a  great  confusion  of  tongues 
in  and  around  the  Babylon  of  a  false  Christianity 
which  is  ever  seeking  to  establish  itself  in  the  New 
Jerusalem  which  cometh  down  from  God  out  of 
heaven. 

This  babble  of  didactic  confusion  has  been  heard 
to  echo  down  the  aisles  of  all  the  ages  from  the  first 
false  teaching  by  the  old  serpent  in  the  garden  of 
Eden  to  some  of  the  modem  utterances  of  self-con- 
stituted evangelists  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord's  house. 
— From  the  free  love  proposition  of  Potiphar's  wife 
in  the  palace  of  the  Pharaohs  to  the  vaporings  of  Mrs. 
Eddy  in  her  cult  of  Christian  Science — falsely  so- 
called. — From  the  rider  of  Baalam's  ass  to  the  illu- 
sive fox-fire  of  Russell's  Millennial  Dawn. — From 
the  confounding  of  tongues  on  Shiner's  Plain  to  the 
confusion  of  teachings  in  the  barren  desert  of  pre- 
sent-day sectarianism. — From  Barak's  double-dealing 
devotion  to  Mrs.  Blavatski's  theosophic  notoriety. — 
From  the  false  prophets  of  olden  times  to  the  teach- 
ings of  false  Christs  in  the  perilous  times  of  these  last 
days. 

It  is  a  fairly  debatable  question  as  to  which  is  the 
greater  impediment  to  the  proper  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  world,  the  teachings  of  false  religions 
or  the  false  teachings  of  the  true  and  absolute  relig- 
ion. 

The  fact  that  Christian  teachers  differ  so  much 
and  so  widely  as  to  just  what  should  always  be  taught 
and  as  to  what  should  constitute  the  essential  ele- 

3 


34  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ments  of  their  sermons  does  not  necessarily  imply  that 
some  of  them  are  necessarily  more  honest,  sincere  and 
orthodox  than  all  others,  but  rather  that  they  see  the 
truth  from  different  view-points  of  the  whole  evan- 
gelical compass,  under  the  kaleidoscope  of  its  various 
shadings ;  and  oh,  how  numerous  the  refracting  angles 
and  reflecting  surfaces  of  the  prisms  that  shade  and 
color  the  truth  of  God's  revelations  to  men  and  for 
their  salvation ! 

The  various  stages  of  ethical  and  intellectual  de- 
velopment in  the  history  of  the  human  race;  the  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  capability  and  capacity  in  the  var- 
ious races  of  mankind;  the  progress  made  along  the 
lines  of  the  secular  sciences ;  the  modifying  influences 
of  the  various  schools  of  moral  and  mental  philos- 
ophy; the  religious  psychology  and  individual  ido- 
syncrasies,  as  well  as  the  undue  predominancy  of  one 
function  over  another  in  the  trichotomous  nature  of 
men — all  of  these  must  be  considered  in  any  success- 
ful attempt  to  solve  the  complex  problem  now  under 
consideration.  Child  preachers  think  as  children  and 
speak  as  children,  and  it  is  only  when  they  become 
men  and  master  workmen  that  they  are  able  to  preach 
as  men  grown  to  the  full  stature  of  Christ,  the  Prince 
of  preachers. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  philosophic  school  of 
Hobbs  and  Locke  the  pulpit  is  likely  to  be  uncon- 
sciously moulded  by  the  single  element  of  experience 
in  religion  until  it  dro^vns  itself  in  the  shallow  pool 
of  felicitous  empiricism.  Controlled  and  carried  for- 
ward by  the  full  sweep  of  the  Hegelean  Wissenscliaft, 
the  preacher  is  in  danger  of  starting  in  the  realm  of 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  35 

mere  reason  and  ending  under  the  ruinous  reign  of 
Christless  rationalism.  Under  the  star  of  scholastic 
theology  the  parable  of  the  leaven  was  explained  so  as 
to  make  the  three  measures  of  meal  to  mean  Europe, 
Asia  and  Africa,  which  explanation  did  very  well 
until  the  science  of  navigation  came  along  and  dis- 
covered America,  when  there  was  not  leaven  enough 
to  meet  the  actual  necessities  of  the  case. 

In  the  earlier  periods  of  our  holy  religion  instruc- 
tion was  imparted  through  tradition  and  truth  taught 
by  parables.  Later  on  the  proverbial  and  poetic 
vehicles  of  cummunication  were  used  for  the  convey- 
ance of  religious  ideas  from  mind  to  mind,  and  pro- 
clamations were  heralded  by  the  sounding  of  trumpets. 
Some  of  the  prophets  employed  parables  and  other 
similitudes  when  speaking  as  living  oracles  between 
God  and  men.  Isaiah,  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  used  these 
figures  of  speech  when  the  'burden  of  the  Lord  was 
upon  them  to  foretell  the  events  of  the  future. 
Nathan  and  Machaiah  thus  addressed  the  kings  di- 
rectly and  face  to  face. 

John  the  Baptist,  although  he  had  eaten  con- 
siderable wild  honey,  did  not  employ  very  mellifluous 
phraseology  in  his  preaching.  His  language  would 
not  be  considered  as  helles  letters  in  our  superlatively 
refined  modern  pulpits.  "Oh,  generation  of  vipers, 
who  hath  warned  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come?"  It  was  the  employment  of  a  very  expressive 
similitude.  As  the  transitional  link  between  the  Old 
Testament  dispensation  and  the  shadow  of  better 
things  to  come,  he  stood  upon  the  border  of  the  wil- 
derness and  banks  of  the  Jordan  and  pointed  to  the 


36  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Lamb  of  God  who  had  come  to  take  away  the  sin  of 
the  world.  He  rang  out  the  old  and  rang  in  the  new 
as  he  harbingered  the  coming  of  the  Prince  of  preach- 
ers. Our  Lord  then  stepped  upon  a  new  stage  and 
occupied  a  pulpit,  such  as  the  Jewish  world  had  never 
seen.  Never  did  man  speak  with  such  a  tongue  and 
deliver  such  a  message.  He  employed  the  parabolic 
form  of  utterance.  "And  without  a  parable  spake 
he  not  unto  them." 

The  sermons  of  the  early  Church  were  in  accord- 
ance with  the  religious  necessities  of  that  formative 
period.  Those  delivered  by  the  apostles  consisted 
largely  of  addresses  to  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  set- 
ting forth  the  fundamental  facts  connected  with  the 
Messianic  character  and  unique  life  of  Jesus.  These 
were  usually  given  with  unctuous  exhortations  to 
repentance,  faith  and  baptism,  and  a  fervent  appeal 
to  the  converts  to  live  in  accordance  with  the  prin- 
ciples and  precepts  of  the  gospel  thus  delivered  unto 
them.  They  were  usually  in  the  form  of  testimonials 
to  the  reality  of  the  new  religion  thus  being  made 
known  to  the  world.  Specimens  or  samples  of  these 
addresses  are  handed  to  us  in  some  of  the  parts  of 
the  apocryphal  New  Testament,  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  in  some  of  the  letters  of  St.  Paul  and  in  the 
canonical  writings  of  St.  John.  They  may  be  called 
the  epistolary  homilies  of  the  great  preacher  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  the  sermonic  messages  received  from 
Christ  by  the  beloved  disciple,  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos, 
in  the  holy  trance  of  his  apocalyptic  vision,  and  sub- 
sequently delivered  to  the  churches  in  Asia  Minor. 

Preaching  among   the   early   Christians,   in  both 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  37 

matter  and  manner,  was  in  accord  with  the  spirit  and 
child-like  character  of  the  primitive  faith  at  first 
delivered  to  the  saints.  As  the  primitive  believers 
assembled  for  worship  and  mutual  encouragement, 
they  were  addressed  by  some  person  of  Christian 
experience,  bishop  or  presbyter.  The  sermon  fre- 
quently took  the  form  of  a  missionary  address  to  the 
heathen  or  unconverted.  It  consisted  largely  of  a 
statement  of  the  fundamental  facts  and  requirements 
of  the  gospel,  followed  by  practical  exhortation  to 
repentance,  and  a  challenge  to  faith,  a  new  life  and 
good  works.  The  aim  was  to  confirm  believers  in  the 
faith,  and  to  kindle  a  divine  life  in  the  hearts  of  the 
susceptible  hearers  present  in  the  assembly  then  and 
thus  gathered. 

Later  on  and  in  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  the  Christians,  according  to  Justin  Martyr, 
when  assembled  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  to  cele- 
brate the  Lord's  resurrection,  listened  to  ''the 
memoirs  of  the  Apostles"  or  the  reading  of  the  gos- 
pels from  the  original  manuscripts,  in  connection 
with  which  the  leader  or  president  of  the  assembly 
would  deliver  a  discourse  of  exhortation  to  those 
present.  These  assemblies  were  frequently  held 
when  under  the  reign  of  heathen  persecution  the 
Christians  were  in  danger  of  being  tossed  into  the 
lion 's  den  for  their  fidelity  to  their  Christ  and  to  each 
other.  Persecution  was  so  furious  that  to  live  like 
a  man  was  to  die  like  a  martyr;  yet,  realizing  that 
they  were  the  salt  of  the  earth,  they  were  anxious  to 
live  for  the^  perpetuation  of  the  faith.  They  there- 
fore frequently  met  together  in  secret  in  upper  cham- 


38  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

bers,  in  caves  and  in  the  catacombs  among  the  em- 
balmed bodies  of  the  sainted  dead.  At  such  times 
there  was  more  need  for  prayers  and  Christian  sym- 
pathy than  for  sermonic  utterances. 

Still  later,  and  down  toward  the  triumph  of  the 
new  religion  over  old  heathenism,  under  Const antine, 
much  preaching  was  crowded  out  of  the  Christian 
assemblies  to  make  room  for  polemics  in  the  consi- 
deration and  discussion  of  the  question  of  our  Lord's 
Messianic  character.  And  still  later,  as  evangelical 
inquiries  after  knowledge  began  to  center  around 
and  narrow  themselves  in  the  monasteries,  public 
preaching  became  more  and  still  more  rare  until  it 
was  tacitly  classed  among  the  lost  arts.  There  were 
very  few  pulpit  magnets  like  John  Chrysostom  the 
golden-mouthed,  Basil  the  great  and  eloquent,  and 
Savanarola,  the  courageous  and  intrepid  evangelist 
of  a  later  period.  The  rising  of  the  Romish  heirarchy 
lowered  the  pulpit  beneath  its  proper  level  to  make 
room  for  the  exhibition  of  prelatical  pride. 

Then  came  the  beginning  of  the  dark  ages  when 
nations  were  compelled  to  hold  their  breath  or  linger 
in  the  dance  of  death.  For  how  could  they  be  saved 
without  calling  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord?  and 
how  could  they  call  upon  him  in  whom  they  did  not 
believe?  and  how  could  they  believe  in  him  of  whom 
they  had  not  heard?  and  how  could  they  hear  with- 
out a  preacher?   (Rom.  10:14). 

All  predictive  prophecies  concerning  God's  way 
in  the  world,  and  all  the  subsequent  fulfillment  of 
such  prophecies  in  the  onflow  of  history  may  be  cited 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  39 

as  evidence  that  only  "the  entrance  of  God's  word 
giveth  light,"  and  that  it  is  God's  will  that  through 
the  written  word  the  people — all  of  the  people — 
should  be  permitted  to  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith 
unto  the  churches — all  the  churches.  Furthermore, 
it  stands  out  in  plain  manifestation  of  medieval  his- 
tory, that  in  the  proportion  that  the  manuscripts 
and  memoirs  of  the  gospels  were  hidden  away  in  the 
monasteries,  the  demand  for  a  reformation  and  a 
vernacular  pulpit  was  pushed  forward  into  the  great 
event  of  the  16th  century  of  the  Christian  era. 

When  the  great  divine-human  movement  of  that 
century  unlocked  the  sepulchres  of  evangelical  truth 
and  thundered  out  the  will  of  heaven  that  the  peo- 
ple should  be  restored  to  their  own  blood-bought  in- 
heritance and  be  permitted  to  hear  the  Word  of  God 
in  their  own  vernacular  language,  the  pulpit  was 
brought  out  of  its  chronic  seclusion  in  the  sanctuary, 
and  the  Reformers  began  to  speak  with  other  tongues 
as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance. 

The  Reformers  were  not  primarily  pulpit  stars 
according  to  the  standard  under  which  some  preach- 
ers now  glorify  themselves  in  the  body.  They  were 
rather  teachers  and  leaders  in  the  great  work  which 
the  Father  had  given  them  to  do.  That  work  was 
extraordinary  and  tremendous.  Heresies  in  doctrine 
and  corruptions  in  practice  had  fortified  themselves 
behind  a  thousand  years  of  moss-covered  mummeries. 
These  could  not  be  driven  out  at  the  sound  of  a 
mere  trumpet.  Such  fortresses  could  not  be  success- 
fully stormed  by  mere  logic,  philosophy  and  oratory. 


40  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

''Not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith 
the  Lord."  The  case  required  expert  leadership 
combined  with  Christian  and  biblical  scholarship, 
and  these  under  the  battle-cry:  "The  sword  of  the 
Lord  and  of  Gideon." 

Luther,  Zwingli  and  Calvin,  with  their  coadju- 
tors, were  primarily  stage  managers  in  that  great 
drama  of  heroic  action  under  the  powers  of  the 
heavenly  world.  Theirs  was  a  formative,  as  well  as 
a  reformative  period  in  the  history  of  Christendom. 
The  work  to  be  done  called  for  a  high  order  of  ethi- 
cal, religious  and  scholastic  qualifications  rather  than 
the  silver  tongues  of  human  eloquence.  Didactic  dis- 
putations and  doctrinal  discussions  were  required, 
as  well  as  pulpit  magnetism.  Hence  much  of  the 
preaching  of  that  stirring  period  was  little  better 
than  the  dialectics  of  the  old  scholastic  age,  when 
angels  were  made  to  dance  a  cotillion  on  the  point 
of  a  needle  without  crowding  each  other  from  the 
stage. 

An  age  of  philosophy  or  religious  controversy 
may  produce  dialectic  giants,  and  star  the  arena  of 
intellectual  pugilism,  and  yet  that  age  may  not  be 
necessarily  a  period  productive  of  great  preachers. 
The  function  of  fantasy  is  not  cultivated  when  there 
is  a  want  of  congenial  soil  and  salubrious  atmosphere. 
The  latent  powers  of  imagination  are  essential  factors 
in  the  production  of  the  orator,  and  these  have  but 
little  to  stimulate  them  into  action  in  the  arena  of 
pure  polemics.  It  is  only  when  the  man  of  God 
bathes  his  soul  at  the  fountain  head  of  living  water 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  41 

that  his  tongue  may  be  baptized  with  heavenly  fire. 
Such  an  orator  has  been  with  Jesus  and  has  learned 
of  Him  that  which  is  not  taught  in  the  common 
schools  of  earth.  He  then  speaks  with  a  superna- 
tural power  almost  omnipotent  in  its  sweep  of  potency. 
Because  of  its  more  sacred  source  and  heavenly 
realm  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit  is  presumed  to  be 
of  a  higher  order  than  the  mere  spectacular  and 
spread  eagle  oratory  of  the  secular  rostrum. 

Shortly  after  the  Reformation,  and  still  in  the 
birth-throes  of  that  great  conflict  with  chronic  error, 
the  theological  disputations  began  to  assume  another 
form  and  take  another  polemical  course.  Instead  of 
continuing  the  discussion  of  the  relative  merits  of 
tradition  as  compared  with  the  authority  of  the  Bible 
in  matters  of  faith  and  practice,  the  clash  of  intel- 
lectual giants,  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it,  was  heard 
between  Calvinists  and  Arminians.  The  metaphysi- 
cal side  of  Calvinism  was  taken  up  and  disputed  by 
Gomoris.  Luther  had  a  battle  with  Pope  Henry 
VIII.  There  was  a  naval  engagement  between  the 
Pedos  and  the  Anabaptists.  The  polemical  conflicts, 
thus  waged,  involved  the  pulpits  disastrously,  until 
to  this  state  of  things  Butler  replied  most  humor- 
ously in  his  Htcdihras: — ■ 

"They  settled  controversy  by 

Infallible  artillery, 

And  proved  their  doctrines  orthodox 

By  apostolic  blows  and  knocks, 
As    though    religion    were    intended 
For    nothing    else    than    to    be    mended." 


42  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

The  Christian  forces  of  Church  history  have  hud- 
dled together  a  remarkable  number  of  somewhat 
notable  names  in  and  around  the  17th  century  of  the 
Christian  era.  Among  these  may  be  seen  and  men- 
tioned Calixtus,  Franke,  Spener,  Paul  Gerhart, 
George  Fox,  John  Kobison,  Elias  Hicks  and  William 
Penn.  These  persons,  to  a  certain  extent,  pre- 
sented a  pictistic  form  of  spasmodic  opposition  to 
much  morbid  error  which  had,  unconsciously  or  other- 
wise, fortified  itself  in  the  Church  of  the  living  God. 
In  Germany  the  holy  paroxysm  aimed  to  correct  a 
growing  formalism  in  faith  and  worship.  In  Eng- 
land it  remonstrated  against  ecclesiastical  authority 
by  civil  government.  In  North  America  it  aimed  to 
start  a  new  Christianity  directly  from  the  Bible : 
A  religion  which  was  not  to  have  spot  or  wrinkle  or 
any  other  such  thing.  In  other  words,  the  move- 
ment in  Germany  was  largely  inspired  by  Teutonic 
impetuosity:  In  England  it  was  fired  by  religious 
independency :  In  North  America  it  was  largely 
either  a  Puritanic  sentimentalism  uttered  with  a  nas- 
al tone,  or  a  religious  humanism.  From  the  fecun- 
dous  womb  of  such  over-zealous  pietism  were  brought 
forth  more  modern  sects  than  mighty  preachers.  The 
atmosphere  in  which  these  abnormities  still  flourish 
like  green  bay-trees  is  never  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  that  magnetic  oratory  in  the  sacred  desk, 
before  which  large  assemblies  are  sometimes  swept, 
as  by  holy  entrancement,  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

There  are,  however,  many  great  preachers  in  the 
world.  Neither  are  they  all  in  Berlin,  London,  Edin- 
burgh, New  York  and  Lancaster.     Some  of  them  are 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  4a 

not  constantly  exhibiting  themselves  before  an  audi- 
ence of  applauding  fools.  Full  many  a  ministerial 
flower  is  ''born  to  blush  unseen,  and  waste  its  sweet- 
ness on  the  desert  air."  Yet  their  fragrance  is  not 
lost  in  the  reckoning  of  Him  who  receives  the  in- 
cense rising  from  every  fully  consecrated  Christian 
altar.  Our  own  Reformed  ministry  has  not  been 
without  its  worthy  representatives  of  that  class  of 
preachers  of  sterling  qualities;  and  the  last  century 
of  our  history  was  not  without  its  full  quota  of  illus- 
trious pulpit  giants. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Bousman  of  Reading,  Pennsylvania, 
was  a  great  preacher.  When  not  judged  according 
to  the  questionable  standard  of  popular  pulpit 
exploiters,  he  had  few  peers  and  less  superiors  among 
the  clergymen  of  America.  Bold  in  his  ministerial 
modesty  and  forceful  in  his  unpretentious  style,  he 
swayed  his  audiences,  not  by  carnal  declamation,  but 
rather  by  a  convincive  presentation  of  evangelical 
truth.  It  was  my  privilege  to  hear  him  preach  before 
the  Ohio  Synod  at  Akron  in  June  of  1861.  He  had 
already  made  his  tour  of  Palestine  and  other  coun- 
tries of  the  Orient.  His  book  of  travel — Si7iai  and 
Zion — had  just  been  published  and  placed  before  his 
American  readers.  He  preached  on  the  gospel  for 
the  Seventh  Sunday  after  Trinity — Jesus  feeding 
the  multitude.  His  discourse  was  introduced  by  an 
artful  description  of  the  situation.  He  told  us  that 
in  his  then  recent  visit  to  the  historic  place  he  had 
made  a  note  of  the  fact  that  there  was  still  ''much 
grass"  in  the  place,  and  in  the  course  of  his  great 
sermon,  he  charged  us  ministers  that  we  should  al- 


44  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ways  regard  it  as  our  first  duty  to  "feed  the  flock 
of  God." 

Only  when  the  preacher  is  able  to  keep  in  con- 
scious, living  touch  with  Christ,  and  to  see  the  invis- 
ible, can  he  properly  proclaim  the  realities  of  the 
heavenly  world.  Only  when  he  can  see  visions  and 
dream  dreams,  something  as  did  the  inspired  prophets 
of  old,  may  he  be  able  to  speak  the  burning  words  of 
Spirit  and  life.  When  thus  emptied  of  his  own  emp- 
tiness and  "filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God"  will 
he  be  able  to  kindle  the  fires  of  destruction  in  the 
combustibility  of  sin  as  a  foreign  element  in  the  hu- 
man family.  Then  will  his  torch  of  heavenly  fire 
burn  with  sufficient  intensity  of  holy  heat  to  light 
the  beacons  of  hope  and  immortality  in  the  hearts 
and  homes  of  all,  who,  under  the  present  power  of 
the  world  to  come,  are  made  to  receive  that  inheri- 
tance which  is  undefiled,  incorruptible  and  that  fad- 
eth  not  away. 

The  religion  of  a  personal  divine-human  Saviour 
calls  for  an  approximately  correct  conception  of  the 
personality  of  Him  who  is  altogether  lovely.  In  the 
religion  of  the  Cross,  the  preacher  must  be  alive  with 
a  most  vivid  sense  of  tragedy.  With  such  proper 
conception  of  Christ  and  him  crucified  the  preacher 
will  be  endowed  with  such  limited  omnipotence  as  to 
able  to 

Make  a  Suffering  Saviour  known 

In  Bozras  garments  dyed  with  blood 

Until  a  helpless  world  shall  own 

Immanuel,  the  Christ  of  God 
Because  his  pealing  thunders  roll 
From  lightning  flashes  in  his  soul. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  45 

Thus  pathos  with  its  pearly  tear 

May  thrill  the  soul   with    all  its  chords 

And  modulation  charm  the  ear 

With  fitting,  fervent,  florid  words, 
And  truth's  great  banner  be  unfurled: 
A   living   Christ  for   a   dying   world. 


46  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 


LECTURE  IV 

The  Ministerial  Message — Continued 

A  recapitulation  of  the  leading  thoughts  expressed 
in  the  first  section  of  this  treatise  on  ' '  The  ministerial 
Message"  will  show  that  the  following  statements 
were  made  and  discussed,  viz;  that  there  is  and  al- 
ways has  been  great  confusion  as  to  just  what  the 
minister  should  preach  in  order  to  discharge  his  full 
duty  to  God  and  his  f ellowmen ;  that  this  confusion 
arises  largely  from  the  facts  that  preachers,  though 
men  of  like  passion,  are  of  different  temperaments, 
of  different  natural  abilities  and  scholastic  attain- 
ments, of  different  racial  peculiarities  and  prejudices, 
as  w^ell  as  men  dominated  more  or  less  by  different' 
schools  of  philosophy;  that  these  differences  do  not 
imply  that  some  ministers  are  for  such  reasons  nec- 
essarily more  honest,  sincere  and  orthodox  than 
others;  that  during  the  earlier  periods  in  the  history 
of  our  holy  religion  some  of  the  preachers  and 
prophets  employed  somewhat  singular  similitudes  as 
vehicles  for  the  conveyance  of  truths  in  their  more 
primitive  forms ;  that  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
sermons  preached  by  the  Apostles  and  early  Church 
Fathers  was  the  witness-bearing  element,  associated 
with  experimental  testimonials  to  the  realities  of 
Christianity,  and  fervent  appeals  to  their  audiences 
along  the  lines  of  Christian  faith  and  practice;  that 
later,  according  to  Justin  Martyr,  the  sermon  was 
rather  an  address  delivered  in  connection  wdth  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  47 

celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  reading  of 
memoirs  of  the  gospels  from  manuscripts  that  were 
still  warm  under  the  unctuous  breath  of  divine  in- 
spiration ;  that  under  the  weight  of  heathen  persecu- 
tion some  of  these  sermonic  addresses  were  delivered 
while  the  Christians  were  secretly  assembled  in  caves 
and  catacombs ;  that  during  the  approach  of  the  dark 
ages,  and  under  the  sombrous  dawn  of  the  scholastic 
theology  the  pulpit  was  pushed  into  one  corner  of  the 
cathedral  to  make  room  for  the  greater  display  of  the 
perverted  priestly  function  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try; that  only  after  the  beginning  of  the  Reforma- 
tion was  there  a  successful  effort  made  to  restore  the 
pulpit  and  the  evangelical  sermon  to  their  proper 
prominence  in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary;  that  un- 
der such  restoration  great  emphasis  was  laid  upon 
the  claim  that  the  people  should  be  permitted  to  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches ;  that  the 
swing  of  this  very  proper  reformation  movement,  car- 
ried into  the  realm  of  false  freedom,  landed  the  min- 
istry in  the  seething  caldron  of  unprofitable  dispu- 
tations, and  many  of  the  preachers  in  uncharitable 
discussions ;  that  this  trend  of  pernicious  activity  led 
the  Church  into  various  shades  of  formalism  and  gave 
rise,  by  way  of  reaction,  to  paroxysms  of  much  spur- 
ious piety,  which  then  carried  a  sample  of  itself  across 
the  ocean,  and  landed  its  puritanic  progeny  on  Ply- 
mouth Rock ;  that  the  Spenarism  of  Germany,  the 
Independency  of  England  and  the  Sentimentalism 
of  North  America  so  ground  themselves  in  the  mere 
subjective  side  of  our  holy  religion  as  to  be  unfavor- 
able to  the  production   of  the  ideal  preacher;   that 


48  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

only  when  the  preacher  is  able  to  touch  bottom  rock 
in  the  objective  facts  and  truths  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  finds  himself  under  the  present  power  of 
the  heavenly  world  may  he  make  full  proof  of  his 
ministry;  that,  finally,  the  religion  of  the  Cross  re- 
quires in  its  heralds  a  vivid  sense  of  that  holy  tragedy 
before  they  can  sway  their  audiences,  and  sweep  their 
hearers  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

The  foregoing  restatement  of  the  contents  of  the 
former  lecture,  while  it  showed  progress  in  the  right 
general  direction,  made  it  more  obviously  manifest 
that  we  had  not  reached  the  promised  land.  Our 
eyes  had  not  yet  beheld  the  full  realization  of  the 
prophet's  dream  when  he,  in  rapturous  vision,  fore- 
saw the  coming  of  God's  gospel  messengers  with 
beautiful  feet  upon  the  mountain  slopes.  That  neck 
of  the  wilderness  through  which  we  were  passing 
was  seen  to  be  full  of  ephemeral  manna,  murmur- 
ings  and  moving  tents.  Instead  of  feasting  upon  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for,  we  were  served  to 
rather  a  negative  diet  in  mere  anticipation  of  better 
things  to  come.  We  are,  however,  moving  on  toward 
Mount  Zion,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  and  the  reme- 
dial kingdom  of  the  living  God,  in  which  alone  we 
shall  be  able  to  find  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  the  min- 
isterial office,  and  the  truly  gospel  sermon.  There- 
fore, let  us  go  forward  in  the  full  assurance  of  a 
rational  faith,  until  we  find  ourselves  able  to  an- 
swer the  question :  What  is  the  ideal  ministerial  mes- 
sage ? 

Continuing,  we  are  now  ready  to  remark  that 
much  of  the  preaching  at  the  present  time,  as  well 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  49 

as  too  many  of  the  pulpit  harangues  of  the  past,  may 
be  classed  with  the  waste-basket  literature  of  abstract 
reasoning  and  absurd  ranting.  The  everlasting  gos- 
pel of  facts  in  flesh  and  blood  has  been  too  generally 
held  in  the  mind  and  heralded  from  the  mouth  of  the 
preacher  as  a  mere  purpose  or  plan  in  the  mind  of 
God,  or  a  mere  abstract  proposition  or  promise  pub- 
lished from  the  eternal  throne.  The  sermon  has  the 
wood  and  the  fire,  but  the  worshiping  assembly  is 
left,  with  Isaac,  to  inquire;  ''Where  is  the  lamb  for 
the  offering?"  Such  diets  of  abstractions  though 
proclaimed  by  the  preacher  as  the  living  bread,  is  no 
better  than  Luther's  Diet  at  Worms. 

As  the  Church,  in  her  Romish  form,  involved  in 
herself  the  necessity  for  a  reformation,  so  did  the 
Reformation  secrete  in  its  fecundous  womb  the  pos- 
sibility of  ultraistic  impulses  and  erratic  methods  of 
abnormal  growth.  And  it  is  not  so  easy  to  decide 
and  explain  just  how  far  such  centrifugal  forces  of 
religious  impetuosity  carried  the  great  movement  of 
the  16th  century  forward  until  they  gave  birth  to 
the  occasion  for  the  development  of  rationalism  in 
Germany,  infidelity  in  France,  the  deism  of  Boling- 
broke  and  the  skepticism  of  Hume  in  England,  and 
hydra-headed  religious  sentimentalism  in  North  Amer- 
ica. One  thing  may  probably  be  assumed  without  ar- 
gument, viz :  that  these  false  flashes  of  intellect  and 
emotional  impulses  are  largely  productive  of  a  deca- 
dent and  effeminate  clergy.  Possibly  Daniel  Webster 
was  partially  justified  in  his  seeming  radical  criti- 
cism of  the  cloth  when  he  averred  that  the  strongest 
evidence  of  the  divine  reality  of  the  Christian  relig- 

4 


50  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ion  is  found  in  the  fact  that  it  continues  to  perpetu- 
ate itself  in  spite  of  the  many  perverted  pulpits  in 
Christendom.  And  yet  it  cannot  be  said  in  truth 
that  the  average  sermon  has  fallen  so  far  below  its 
proper  ideal  as  to  justify  the  question  now  being 
raised  and  discussed  in  certain  communities  as  to 
whether  the  pulpit  or  the  press  is  today  wielding 
the  greater  power  in  the  progress  of  God's  kingdom 
in  the  world.  One  thing,  however,  is  beyond  reason- 
able contradiction,  that  nothing  but  an  unpardonable 
decadence  of  the  pulpit  could  render  its  soteriologi- 
cal  influence  inferior  to  the  power  of  the  printing 
press. 

Perhaps  the  most  fruitful  germs  of  the  above- 
mentioned  anti-evangelical  forces  w^ere  fostered  by 
the  peeuliar  condition  of  the  Church  in  or  about  the 
beginning  of  the  17th  century.  William  Laud's 
prelatical  tyranny,  Francis  Cheynell's  controversial 
piety  and  the  exclusive  policy  of  the  English  Church 
were  favorable  to  the  production  of  such  men  as  Wil- 
liam Chillingworth  who  arose  as  a  wandering  star 
of  Bible  Christianity,  and  proclaimed  that  great 
"book  as  the  religion  of  Protestantism."  His  vol- 
ume, the  "Religion  of  Protestantism  A  Safe  Way 
to  Salvation/'  though  not  a  new  utterance  upon  the 
subject,  was  a  conspicuous  cry  in  the  wilderness  of 
religious  confusion.  Although  the  book  was  buried 
with  its  author  at  Chichester  in  1644,  the  sentiments 
advocated  therein  have  continued  to  ring  down  the 
aisle  of  all  subsequent  church  history  until  they  have 
established  themselves  in   much  superficial  religious 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  51 

thinking    as   something   plausible   in    much    popular 
piety. 

A  splendid  bill  of  fare  on  toast, 
Upon  a  fancied  table  spread, 
Garnished  with  garlands  by  the  host, 
For  nutrient  food  and  living  bread, 

Is  served  for  thoughtless  guests  who  look 

For  their  salvation  in  a  book. 

A  sacrifice  by  paper  priest. 

Proclaiming  unsubstantial  things 

Is  but  a  poor  and  meager  feast 

Though  brought  from  heaven  on  angels'  wings. 
God  never  meant  that  paper  plan 
Should  serve  as  bread  for  starving  man. 

Away  with  abstract  vanity ! 

How  lean  its  half  starved  children  look. 

Away  with  such  insanity ! 

Redemption  all  within  a  book. — 
In  concrete  form  the  truth  is  given. 
Receiving  which  we  rise  to  heaven. 

Christ  hath  the  realm  of  flesh  outgrown, 

And  hence  to  higher  realm  ascended ; 

He  lives  in  Person  on  his  throne, 

His  person  must  be  apprehended. 
The  truth  is,  man,  to  be  complete. 
Needs  grace  and  truth  in  Life  Concrete. 

The  foregoing  reference  to  the  Bible  and  to  the 
mistaken  views  sometimes  taken  of  the  same  by  over- 
zealous  religionists,  cannot  lower  the  proper  estima- 
tion of  its  character  and  value  in  the  economy  of 
divine  redemption.  It  is  and  ever  has  been  held  in 
high  and  holy  regard  by  all  devout  men  and  all  truly 
Christian  and  sound  theologians.  And  in  all  the 
years  of  the  future  it  will  continue  to  hold  its  proper 


52  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

place  in  the  sanctuary  of  good  men's  gratitude  and 
esteem.  Such  esteem  is  justified  and  guaranteed, 
not  only  by  its  unique  contents,  but  also  by  the  rela- 
tion it  sustains  to  its  Divine  Author,  as  well  as  by  its 
prophetic  pointings  to  Him  of  whom  it  testifies. 
Higher  Christian  criticisms,  or  the  corrections  of  its 
errant  human  elements  have  been  neither  disposed 
nor  able  to  do  God's  word  any  harm.  Lower,  skepti- 
cal and  irreverent  criticisms  have  only  blunted  their 
shafts  of  assault  upon  that  inspired  ''armory  of  Da- 
vid in  which  there  hang  a  thousand  bucklers,  all 
shields  of  mighty  men."  The  holy  shrine  of  its  con- 
tents, the  purity  of  its  precepts,  the  value  of  its  his- 
torical records,  the  brilliancy  of  its  lamps  let  down 
from  heaven,  and  the  flashlights  of  its  hopes  of  dis- 
persing the  clouds  that  hang  around  the  horizon  of 
the  future  will  always  help  to  hold  the  Bible  in  holy 
esteem  until  the  last  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  time's 
departing  day. 

Indeed,  the  Bible  stands  so  high  above  the  flood- 
tides  of  infidelity  that  nothing  can  ever  besmirch  its 
heavenly  character  or  remove  the  canonical  Scrip- 
tures of  Grod's  revelation  to  man  from  their  proper 
place  in  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  except  to  substi- 
tute them  for  the  ark  itself,  or  for  the  hidden  manna 
therein.  When  that  is  the  case  men  spend  their 
money  for  that  which  is  not  bread  and  their  labor 
for  that  which  satisfieth  not.  In  the  Old  Dispensa- 
tion a  "feast  of  trumpets"  served  a  religious  pur- 
pose ;  but  now,  since  ' '  the  day  of  Pentecost  has  fully 
come,"  a  mere  paper  pabulum  is  a  poor  means  of 
nutriment  to  hungry  souls.     Wind  instruments  were 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  63 

used  to  blow  down  the  walls  of  old  Jericho ;  they 
have,  however,  less  potency  in  building  up  the  walls 
of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

Noah's  Bible,  though  unwritten,  was  "Come  thou 
and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark."  In  obedience  to 
the  "Word  of  God"  thus  conveyed,  the  righteous  old 
patriarch  and  his  family  entered  the  "ark,"  and 
rose  above  the  elements  of  a  destructive  flood. 
Abram's  Bible — "the  word  of  the  Lord"  was  "Get 
thee  out  of  thy  country  and  from  thy  kindred,  and 
from  thy  father's  house  unto  a  land  that  I  will  show 
thee,  And  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I 
will  bless  thee  and  make  thy  name  great,  and  thou 
shalt  be  a  blessing."  And  Abram,  believing  the 
teaching  of  his  Bible — the  Word  of  God — entered 
into  and  found  salvation  in  the  covenant  which  God 
made  with  him.  The  beginning  of  Moses'  Bible  was 
given  him  when  the  word  of  the  Lord  was  addressed 
to  him  out  of  the  midst  of  the  burning  bush,  saying, 
"Draw  not  hither,"  but  rather  pointing  him  unto 
a  land  whither  he  was  to  lead  the  children  of  Israel, 
even  to  a  "land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,"  in 
which  land  they  found  their  national  salvation  and 
developed  their  racial  character. 

Young  gentlemen:  You  will  always  show  great 
respect  for  the  Holy  Scriptures.  In  all  your  pulpit 
exploitations  never  pound  the  Bible.  It  was  inspired 
from  heaven  and  written  by  men  of  God  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  With  reverential  sense 
of  their  responsibility,  the  bishops  in  the  early  Coun- 
cil at  Hippo  began  to  sift  it  from  the  apocryphal 
writings    of    the    more    primitive    periods,    and    the 


54  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Council  of  Nicea  placed  its  stamp  of  approval  upon 
the  great  book  in  canonical  form.  It  comes  down 
the  aisle  of  the  ages  commanding  a  reverential 
admiration  from  all  who  have  received  it  as  a  lamp 
of  ethical,  religious  and  civil  illumination.  With- 
out it  there  would  have  been  no  Magna  Charta  given 
at  Eunneymede,  no  political  millennium  for  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  and  no  charter  of  civil  liberty  for 
the  nations  of  the  world. 

Although  the  Bible  is  so  constituted  as  to  have 
a  human  side  and  include  a  literary  element  it  is  not 
to  be  catalogued  with  mere  literary  volumes.  It  is 
unique  in  its  nature,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
its  growth,  unequalled  as  a  beacon  light  in  the  path 
of  the  world's  progress,  and  a  conservatory  of  truth 
in  the  economy  of  the  world's  redemption.  It 
should,  therefore,  never  be  forced  out  of  its  proper 
place  in  the  plan  of  the  ages,  or  from  the  part 
assigned  it  in  the  great  religious  drama  of  human 
life.  In  its  peculiar  position,  as  umpire  in  the  mat- 
ter of  religious  disputation,  it  may  be  decried,  but 
it  can  never  be  dethroned.  Indeed,  nothing  can  be 
dishonored  as  long  as  it  remains  in  its  place;  and 
nothing  can  be  held  in  proper  esteem  when  out  of 
its  proper  position  and  relation  to  other  things. 
What  then  is  the  position  assigned  the  Bible  in  the 
solution  of  the  great  ethical  problem  of  the  universe? 
Hear  it  utter  its  voice  in  1  John  5:11.  "This  is 
the  record  that  God  hath  given  us  eternal  life,  and 
this  life  is  in  his  Son." 

Could  we  hear  the  silent  voice  that  echoes  from 
every  sacred  page  of  holy  writ,  our  dumb  ears  would 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  55 

soon  be  unstopped  by  the  announcement  of  the  great 
Messianic  Master:  "In  the  volume  of  the  book  it  is 
written  of  me,  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  Oh,  God. ' ' 
To  hear  that  sacred  symphony  of  heaven,  our  ears 
must,  however,  be  attuned  to  something  more  than 
the  rustling  of  paper  and  the  rattling  of  literary 
artillery.  The  auricular  organ  of  our  qickened 
souls  must  be  adjusted  to  the  language  of  the  invis- 
ible world.  As  God  spoke  of  Elijah  from  the  still 
small  voice,  rather  than  from  the  storms  and  whirl- 
winds of  emotional  and  commotional  religiousness, 
so  he  still  speaks  to  his  people,  and  especially  to  his 
ministerial  ambassadors,  through  the  Bible  from  the 
eternal  background  of  all  mere  Scriptural  media  of 
conduction. 

Much,  however,  depends  upon  the  preacher's  atti- 
tude toward  God's  inspired  record  of  the  revelation 
which  he  has  thus  made  to  man,  if  he  would  have 
his  spirit  intoned  and  brought  into  receptive  relation 
to  the  invisible  and  spiritual  realm.  No  preacher 
can  live  unto  himself  if  he  would  live  unto  the  Lord. 
Indeed  it  is  dangerous  for  any  minister  to  so  isolate 
himself  as  to  suppose  that  he  can  draw  all  the  proper 
materials  for  a  truly  biblical  sermon  from  the  Bible 
while  he  is  standing  out  of  the  council  chamber  of 
Christendom.  Historic  Christianity  as  embodied  in 
the  one,  Holy  Catholic  Church  is  the  Supreme  Court 
having  final  jurisdiction  in  the  matter  of  determin- 
ing what  the  sacred  oracles  mean  as  they  testify  of 
Christ  and  tell  of  heavenly  things  too  deep  to  be 
penetrated  even  by  the  eyes  of  the  angels  who  always 
behold  the  face  of  the  everlasting  Father.     And  yet 


56  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

there  are  preachers  who,  in  their  own  opinion,  know 
more  than  the  combined  piety,  wisdom  and  intelli- 
gence of  all  the  ages  from  the  closing  of  the  garden 
gates  to  Eden  to  the  opening  of  the  portals  of  the 
New  Jerusalem.  They  are  little  Pontius  Pilates  sit- 
ting in  judgment  upon  both  the  Law  and  the  Divine 
Prisoner  at  the  bar. 

To  '^ rightly  divide  the  word"  is  to  properly  dis- 
tinguish between  the  two  complemental  forms  there- 
of. This  the  true  preacher  of  the  everlasting  gospel 
will  do  in  all  his  closet  meditations  and  pulpit  minis- 
trations. He  will  clearly  recognize  a  distinction, 
without  separation,  between  the  "word^*  as  a  thought, 
idea  or  purpose  in  the  mind  of  God,  spoken,  revealed 
or  made  known  to  the  finite  mind  by  being  inscribed 
or  expressed  on  stone  parchment  or  some  other 
material  in  manuscript  or  printed  form,  and  the 
Personal  Word  as  He  was  in  the  beginning  with  God, 
and  was  God,  who,  in  the  fulness  of  time  came  down 
from  the  eternal  realm,  became  man  for  us  and  for 
our  salvation — God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  seen  of  an- 
gels, preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the 
world  and  caught  up  into  glory,  where  he  ever  liv- 
eth  to  make  intercession  for  all  who  come  to  the 
Father  through  hs  divine-human  mediation. 

These  two  forms  of  the  "word"  are  joined  to- 
gether in  bonds  of  everlasting  wedlock.  Let  no  min- 
isterial man  put  them  asunder.  Without  the  writ- 
ten word  there  would  be  no  such  heaven-born  testi- 
mony of  the  Christ;  without  the  incarnate  word  the 
written  word  would  be  an  empty  promise  unfulfilled. 
Christ  is  the  yea  and  amen  of  the  Bible.     The  high- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  57 

est  and  holiest  form  of  God's  great  revelation  to  man 
is  not  the  written  word,  but  the  ''word  made  flesh.' ^ 
He  is  the  life-giving  word.  The  light  of  Scripture 
is  not  the  life  of  men.  The  great  cardinal  fact  of 
human  redemption  is  expressed  in  a  form  the  very- 
reverse  of  such  a  bibleolotrous  notion.  In  Him  was 
life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men.  As  in  the 
time-process  under  which  the  old  order  of  creation 
was  brought  forth,  Gen.  1,  the  lower  forms  of  life 
w^ere  generated  before  the  light  was  more  fully 
flashed  upon  such  forms  of  being;  so  in  the  divine 
process  of  producing  "new  creatures  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  life-productions  seem  to  precede  light-pro- 
ductions. The  sequential  manifestation  is  the  light 
of  life  (John  8:12),  rather  than  the  life  of  light. 
Each  in  its  own  order:  Christ  first  and  consequenti- 
ally that  inseparable  element  in  the  Divine  Being 
which  scintillates  from  the  living  Son  of  Righteous- 
ness with  healing  in  his  wings. 

Young  Gentlemen :  Only  as  you  make  your  ser- 
mons ground  themselves  in  these  cardinal  facts  of 
divine-human  redemption  fontally  in  the  Personal 
Word,  and  herald  them  forth  according  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  written  word  as  interpreted  by  the  grow- 
ing creeds  and  progressive  apprehension  of  Chris- 
tendom, the  supreme  court  of  last  resort  until  Christ's 
final  coming  and  judgment  seat  is  erected  at  the  end 
of  the  world — only  thus  will  you  be  able  to  hear 
heavenly  music  in  the  gospel  and  see  those  inspired 
visions  by  which  the  living  preacher  is  overshadowed, 
tenanted,  uplifted  and  impelled  forward  as  a  faith- 
ful and  successful  ambassador  of  the  immortal  Christ, 


58  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

in  whom  alone  dwelletli  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge  pertaining  to  the  redemption,  and 
essential  to  the  completion  of  humanity. 

But  what  is  it  to  preach  Christ  in  a  strictly  evan- 
gelical or  gospel  sense?  To  preach  Christ  presup- 
poses a  need  of  Him  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom 
he  is  thus  proclaimed.  Such  necessity  must  first  be 
shown  before  Christless  men  can  know  how  great 
their  sins  and  miseries  are.  This  is  the  teaching  of 
the  written  word.  It  is  also  echoed  back  in  answer 
to  the  second  question  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 
The  disease  must  be  made  known  to  the  suffering 
patient  before  the  Great  Physician  can  be  made 
fully  welcome  in  the  hospital  of  the  helpless  man. 
What  is  thus  true  as  applied  to  the  individual  sin- 
ner is  equally  true  of  the  community.  ''Oh,  Jer- 
usalem, if  thou  hadst  known  the  things  that  belong 
to  thy  peace!"  Much  pulpit  failure  is  the  result 
of  defective  pulpit  pathology.  This  is  one  of  the 
weaknesses  in  much  of  our  fashionable  and  popular 
churchanity.  The  lold  prophets  "cried  aloud  and 
showed  the  people  their  transgressions."  It  should 
be  no  less  so  under  a  gospel  dispensation.  Indeed 
this  sombrous  truth  should  be  sounded  out  more 
emphatically  since  "this  is  the  condemnation  that 
light  is  come  into  the  world."  There  is  a  good  reason 
to  reverse  the  order  and  paraphrase  the  language  of 
the  apostle: — "Whereas  grace  doth  aboimd  through 
the  promises  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  so  doth  sin 
much  more  abound  through  indifference  and  unbe- 
lief;" and  as  a  consequence  we  often  witness  a  com- 
promise between  the  extremes  of  the  pure  and  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  59 

perverted  principles  and  practices  in  our  religious 
ethics.  Crime  is  covered  with  palliations,  and 
chronic  corruptions  cured  with  placebos. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  that 
should  be  construed  tow^ard  a  conclusion  that  genu- 
ine penitence  for  sin  can  be  wrought  in  the  heart  of 
a  wicked  man  before  he  is  confronted  and  challenged 
by  something  or  someone  morally  good  and  true  and 
beautiful.  The  challenge  to  a  better  life  must  now 
ring  out  as  in  the  days  of  the  Baptist: — "Repent 
for,  or  because  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. '^' 
By  the  law  there  is  a  knowledge  of  sin  against  law, 
but  only  by  grace  can  there  be  a  knowledge  of  the 
exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin  against  love. 

As  the  presence  and  power  of  light  is  necessary 
to  make  the  background  of  darkness  appear  in  all 
its  ebon  hue,  so  is  the  ideal  picture  of  absolute  holi- 
ness necessary  to  make  sin  appear  in  the  full  moral 
turpitude  of  its  exceeding  sinfulness.  And  as  sin 
is  a  concrete  reality  in  personality,  personified  vir- 
tue is  required  toa  full  exposure,  by  contrast  with 
the  hideous  mein  of  personal  vice.  This  the  great 
Prince  of  preachers  recognized  and  expressed  in  his 
great  antimortuary  address:  ''When  the  Comforter 
is  come,  He  will  take  the  things  of  mine  and  show 
them  unto  you,"  and  "convince  the  world  of  sin." 
"Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world,  and  now  is  the 
prince  of  this  world  cast  out,  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up,"  on  the  cross,  upon  the  mediatorial  throne  and 
in  the  gospel  sermon — "will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 
It  is  when  confronted  with  the  holiness  of  the  per- 
sonal message  that  "the  devils  fear  and  tremble." 


^0  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

We  learn  from  Matt.  8 :  29  that  they  could  not  stand 
before  the  presence  and  power  of  Christ's  omnipo- 
tent immaculacy  when  they  recognized  Him  as  "the 
Son  of  God  most  high."  Thus,  too,  on  one  occasion, 
was  Peter,  himself,  made  to  stand  abashed  with  a 
proper  sense  of  his  sinfulness,  when  in  the  presence 
of  the  Holy  Personal  One,  he  exclaimed:  "Depart 
from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man."  So,  too,  under 
the  heavenly  power  of  Peter's  great  Pentecostal  ser- 
mon. It  was  not  so  much  the  piercing  words  that 
"with  wicked  hands  you  have  crucified  and  slain" 
the  Lord  of  glory,  but  rather  the  declaration  that 
that  same  Jesus  had  been  raised  from  the  dead,  made 
both  Lord  and  Christ  and  exalted  into  heaven  to 
give  repentance  to  Israel. 

The  line  of  reasoning  followed  in  the  last  para- 
graph would  lead  us  logically  forward  toward  the 
conclusion  that  if  the  personal  holiness  of  Christ  is 
the  paramount  element  in  the  sermon  that  carries 
conviction  to  the  sinner,  it  is  also  indispensable  in 
the  preacher  that  he  in  his  personality  be  recognized 
as  one  possessed  and  in  practice  of  relatively  holy 
dynamic  power.  Without  this  the  pulpit  cannot  be 
a  shining  light  and  a  full  success.  The  raven,  though 
a  foul  bird,  may  have  carried  clean,  acceptable  and 
nutrient  food  to  Elijah,  but  "the  law  of  the  spirit 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus"  requires  that  they  who  "bear 
the  vessels  of  the  Lord  should  be  holy,"  in  order 
to  convince  the  world  of  unholiness  and  emancipate 
it  from  "the  law  of  sin  and  death."  The  minister 
should,  however,  be  holy  without  being  sanctimon- 
ious.      Pretentious    sanctity    is    abominable.       The 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  61 

preacher  should  be  pious  without  being  pietistic. 
Like  Caesar's  wife,  he  must  be  above  suspicion.  Out 
upon  perfunctory  pulpits  with  characters  besmirched 
with  scandal,  lives  steeped  in  a  solution  of  the  world- 
spirit,  cheeks  tinged  with  shame  and  tongues  blistered 
with  the  language  of  impropriety.  The  time  is  fast 
coming  when  the  Christian  minister  will  be  so  in- 
flamed with  the  pure  and  passionate  love,  and  so 
charged  with  the  holy  dynamics  of  the  Master,  as  to 
give  unimpeachable  evidence  that  he  has  ''been  with 
Jesus  and  learned  of  Him."  Then  will  this  naughty 
world  be  convinced  of  sin,  and  men  will  be  glad  to 
come  and  bow^  with  respectful  reverence  before  the 
superlative  power  and  glory  of  the  Christian  religion. 


-62  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 


LECTURE   V 

The  Ministerial  Message — Concluded 

A  brief  review  of  the  last  lecture  would  show,  in 
summary  statement,  that  much  of  the  preaching  of 
the  past  few  centuries  has  consisted  too  largely  in  a 
presentation  of  abstract  propositions,  rather  than 
what  the  nature  and  necessities  of  the  case  call  for — 
a  proclamation,  by  divine  authority,  of  concrete 
truths  and  facts  in  flesh  and  blood ;  that  such  per- 
version of  the  pulpit  has  been  the  occasion  for  the 
growth  of  modern  infidelity;  that  Bibleolatry  is  little, 
if  any,  better  than  Mariolatry ;  that,  though  the  Bible 
is  not  to  be  substituted  for  the  Christ,  it  is  and  ever 
should  be  held  and  esteemed  as  high  above  all  forms 
of  mere  secular  literature  as  heaven  is  high  above  the 
earth,  and  as  God's  thoughts  are  above  the  thoughts 
of  men;  that  there  should  be  such  high  regard  for 
the  Book,  because  of  its  source,  its  contents  and  its 
very  valuable  accredited  testimony  of  Him  of  whom 
Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  did  write,  as  the 
summary  of  what  Jesus  began  to  do  and  to  teach, 
and  the  inspired  record  of  the  planting  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  apostolic  age  of  the  church's  history; 
that  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  according  to  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible,  a  clear  distinction  without 
separation,  is  made  between  the  written  and  the  Per- 
sonal Word  of  God;  that  only  the  sermon  which  con- 
sists of  a  proper  presentation  of  the  personal  and  holy 
Christ  can  carry  with  it  the  dynamic  power  neces- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  63 

sary  to  convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness 
and  of  a  judgment  to  come ;  that  to  be  able  to  preach 
such  sermons  the  preacher  must  be  consecrated  in 
person  and  consistent  in  his  practice  of  evangelical 
and  ethical  principles  of  righteousness  in  order  to 
be  a  proper  medium  of  conduction  for  the  Messianic 
power  of  which  he  is  the  ambassadorial  representa- 
tive, and  which  is  to  bring  in  that  auspicious  millen- 
nial mom  for  which  prophets  and  sages  long  have 
looked. 

Continuing,  we  repeat  the  question :  ' '  What  shall 
we  preach f'  "What  shall  I  cry?"  "All  flesh  is 
as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of  man  as  the  flower  of 
the  field?"  That  answer  was  in  order  in  the  earlier 
ages  of  the  world,  and  the  more  primitive  periods  in 
the  development  of  God's  kingdom,  but  it-  does  not 
meet  the  changed  and  changing  requirements  of  these 
latter  days  when  the  autumnal  tints  are  on  the  leaves 
of  time's  historic  tree.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
now  not  only  at  hand,  but  also  coming  under  differ- 
ent aspects  of  its  rising  spreading  and  prevailing 
glory.  Preaching  must  now,  therefore,  also,  show 
an  advance  in  form  upon  the  preaching  of  the  past, 
according  to  the  advanced  condition  of  God's  king- 
dom in  the  world.  It  has  ever  been  thus.  Even 
Paul  advanced  upon  the  teachings  of  Christ,  al- 
though there  was  but  one  faith  delivered  to  the  saints. 
This  the  great  apostle  did  in  such  a  way  as  to  in- 
volve no  contradiction  between  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  and  the  preaching  of  his  great  ambassador  to 
the  Gentiles.  If  Paul  was  the  more  philosophic,  it 
was  because   the   teachinors   of   his   Master   involved 


64  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

the  germ  principles  of  all  true  philosophy,  and  be- 
cause it  was  a  part  of  Paul's  peculiar  mission  to  un- 
fold those  divine  principles  in  their  philosophic 
form,  and  because  his  audiences  were  more  disposed 
to  look  for  wisdom  than  the  people  to  whom  Jesus 
spoke  more  directly.  Paul  and  Christ  were  not  in 
conflict  at  any  point  of  comparison  or  contrast  be- 
tween their  respective  forms  of  proclaiming  the  ever- 
lasting truths  involved  in  the  one  and  all-compre- 
hensive economy  of  God's  revelation  to  man,  and 
man's    restoration  to  the  favor  of  his  Maker. 

For  the  reason  above  stated,  the  chiefest  of  the 
apostles,  seeing  the  world  clinging  to  the  philosophies 
of  its  erratic  schools,  rushed  to  the  rescue,  and 
offered  it  the  more  divine  philosophy  of  the  Naza- 
rine,  until  his  wise  head  was  severed  from  his  weak 
body  under  Nero's  ax  at  Rome. 

After  Paul's  missionary  work  had  closed  in  that 
tragic  martyrdom,  St.  John  was  still  in  the  field  and 
continued  the  work  of  the  world's  evangelization, 
by  laying  more  stress  in  his  preaching  upon  the  om- 
nipotence of  love.  It  was  not  in  vain  that  the  be- 
loved disciple  had  reclined  his  head  upon  the  bosom 
of  his  Lord.  It  was  not  in  vain  that  he  had  thus 
felt  the  throbbings  of  that  heart  whose  pulsations 
are  destined  to  cause  the  ethical  universe  to  roll  back 
its  echoes  in  responsive  gratitude.  Without  contra- 
diction or  controversy  John  laid  as  much  stress  upon 
love  as  Paul  had  placed  upon  faith.  In  doing  so,  he 
doubtless  saw  what  Paul  had  already  preached,  that 
v faith  worketh  by  love." 

These  two  factors  were  felt  to  be  absolutely  in- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  65 

separable  and  indispensable  in  the  perseverance  of 
the  saints,  as  the  noble  army  of  martyrs  passed 
through  the  fires  of  perseeution  to  the  pearly  portals 
of  the  heavenly  world.  After  the  long  period  of 
controversy  in  formulating  the  dogmas  and  doctrines 
of  the  church,  the  Athanasian  Creed  began  with  the 
admonition  of  its  prologue  and  ended  with  the  dam- 
natory clause  of  its  epilogue,  and  the  pulpits  sounded 
out  the  echo  : — ' '  This  is  the  Catholic  faith  which, 
except  a  man  believe,  he  cannot  be  saved."  Thus 
arbitrary  authority  dominated  the  pulpit  through  all 
medieval  church  history,  limiting  the  freedom  of 
evangelical  truth  until  the  Reformation  of  the  16th 
century  began  to  raise  the  question,  "What  shall  we 
preach  in  order  to  a  free  and  full  application  of  the 
old  gospel  truths  to  the  new  necessities  of  the  transi- 
tional period  through  which  the  Church  is  called  to 
pass  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  assigned  her  by 
the  great  Prince  of  preachers." 

What  did  Paul  preach?  To  the  Ephesians  he 
preached  "the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ"  (Eph. 
3:18).  To  the  Corinthians  he  "declared  the  gos- 
pel, how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins,  according  to 
the  Scriptures,  and  that  he  was  buried,  and  that  he 
rose  again"  (1  Cor.  15:3-4)  ;  and  also  that  he  "de- 
termined to  know  nothing  among  them  save  Jesus 
Christ  and  him  crusified"  (1  Cor.  2:2).  Upon  the 
other  hand,  or  in  the  same  hand,  or  rather  in  the 
hand  of  the  same  ministry  of  reconciliation,  Christ 
instructed  and  sent  his  disciples  to  "preach  the  king- 
dom of  God."  How  about  the  seeming  conflict  be- 
tween the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  and  "the  Apostle 

5 


66  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

and  High  Priest  of  our  profession,  Jesus  Christ?" 
There  is  no  real  conflict  between  th&tn.  It  is  ex- 
cluded. By  what  law?  By  the  law  of  general  in- 
clusion. All  is  included  in  one  comprehensive  and 
consistent  whole.  Paul  preached  the  Ki7ig  after 
Jesus  had  preached  and  given  command  to  preach 
the  kvngdmn.  Both  are  included  in  the  one  whole 
economy  of  human  salvation.  The  King  and  the 
kingdom,  though  distinct,  are  yet  inseparable  in  the 
great  mystery  of  Godliness  to  be  "preached  unto 
the  Gentiles  and  believed  on  in  the  world."  Neither 
Christ  nor  Paul  would  put  them  asunder.  True,  St. 
John  did  not  bring  the  kingdom  into  as  great  promi- 
nence as  did  Christ  and  Paul,  and  probably  for  the 
reason  that  "the  bird  of  God"  with  eagle  eye  was 
more  disposed  to  peer  into  the  heavenly  realm  and 
behold  both  the  King  and  the  kingdom  "invisible 
and  full  of  glory."  None  of  them,  however,  preached 
a  kingless  kingdom  or  a  kingdomless  King.  Even 
the  penitential  thief  upon  the  cross  had  faith  enough 
and  sense  enough  to  ask  Christ  for  salvation,  only  as 
he  saw  him  coming  in  his  Messianic  kingdom.  Let 
theologians  go  and  do  likewise,  and  preachers  govern 
themselves  accordingly. 

The  truth  of  the  foregoing  is  warranted  and  its 
re-statement  justified  by  reference  to  our  Lord's 
teachings  in  their  manifold  forms.  He  charged  his 
disciples  to  "seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness."  This  direction  implies  that  a  pos- 
session and  knowledge  of  this  kingdom  which  "rul- 
eth  over  all"  is  the  key  that  unlocks  the  meaning 
and  significance  of  all  the  sub-kingdoms  in  the  whole 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  67 

economy  of  God's  great  universe.  Nothing  can  be 
correctly  and  thoroughly  known,  except  as  viewed 
from  this  high  and  commanding  standpoint.  Then 
only  shall  wc  be  able  to  know  when  we  as  true  dis- 
ciples matriculate  in  this  royal  university  and  "fol- 
low on  to  know  the  Lord"  in  his  relation  to  his  entire 
creation,  and  the  entire  range  of  his  universal  gov- 
ernment. 

The  importance  of  the  kingdom  in  the  economy 
of  redemption  is  recognized  by  our  Lord  in  the 
prayer  which  he  gave  to  his  disciples  as  a  general 
guide  to  their  devotions.  After  the  reverential  ad- 
dress to  the  King,  it  is  the  first  petition :  ' '  Thy  king- 
dom come."  So  in  the  first  and  eighth  beatitudes 
pronounced  and  promised  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  The  peace-makers  and  those  who  are  per- 
secuted for  righteousness'  sake  are  to  receive  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  as  their  inheritance  on  earth. 
And  in  no  less  than  sixteen  parables  does  Jesus  make 
them  vehicles  of  instruction  concerning  the  many 
phases  of  the  unfolding  of  God's  kingdom  on  earth. 
How  frequently  and  familiarly  it  rings  out  from  the 
great  preacher's  lips: — "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto — "a  marriage  supper  for  the  King's  Son, 
the  ten  virgins,  a  man  traveling  in  a  far  country, 
the  sower  of  the  good  seed,  the  treasure  hid  in  a 
field,  the  grain  of  mustard  seed,  a  merchantman  seek- 
ing goodly  pearls,  a  net  cast  into  the  sea,  the  king 
calling  his  servants  to  an  accounting,  the  planting 
of  a  vineyard,  the  great  supper,  the  lost  sheep,  the 
missing  pieces  of  silver,  and  the  prodigal  son — all 
vehicles  of  royal  truth  from  the  king  to  his  subjects. 


68  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

According  to  these,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to  be 
preached  until  in  its  full  development  and  final  victory 
over  the  kingdom  of  darkness  and  death,  it  shall  be 
delivered  up  to  the  Father  and  the  King  "be  all  and 
in  all." 

While  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  preached  as 
having  a  real  and  objective  existence  in  the  world, 
it  must  also  be  recognized  and  experienced  as  having 
also  a  subjective  dwelling  place  in  the  heart  of  every 
Christian,  and  especially  every  Christian  minister. 
The  truth  of  this  assertion  is  warranted  by  the  lan- 
guage of  the  King  himself:  "The  kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you."  All  believers  are  subjects  of  and 
citizens  in  the  kingdom — they  are  "fellow  citizens 
with  the  saints"  in  the  royal  household  of  God. 
They  are  not  governed  by  a  regal  power  altogether 
above  themselves.  The  government  is  in  them  and 
through  them  as  organic  parts  of  this  divine-human 
institution  on  earth,  for  whose  constant  coming  they 
fervently  pray.  This  truth  is  brought  out  so  force- 
fully and  beautifully  in  Question  32  of  the  Heidel- 
berg Confession  as  to  justify  the  hope  that  at  least 
that  part  of  the  Catechism  may  not  yet  come  to  be 
regarded  by  our  Protestant  modernists  as  being  en- 
tirely behind  the  times.  It  recognizes  the  correct 
ecclesiastical  principle  of  church  government  that 
all  who  are  partakers  of  Christ's  anointing  have  part 
therein.  This  is  one  of  the  tenets  of  evangelical 
faith  emphasized  by  all  true  Protestantism  as  over 
against  the  Romish  theory  of  church  government 
advocated  and  administered  from  without. 

Young  gentlemen  :  You  Vv^ll  not  forget  that  while 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  69 

it  is  desirable  to  have  a  proper  ministerial  motive, 
important  to  have  a  classical  education,  orderly  to 
have  a  certificate  of  ordination,  it  is  the  conscious- 
ness and  experience  of  having  the  kingdom  of  God 
within  you  that  will  give  you  unction  to  pray,  inspi- 
ration to  preach,  authority  to  act  and  power  to  per- 
severe in  such  a  way  as  to  have  the  constant  and  com- 
forting assurance  that  when  you  ministry  is  ended 
on  earth  you  may  still  reach  your  sickles  forth  to 
reap  the  fields  of  heaven  and  pluck  ripe  clusters  from 
the  vines  of  God. 

The  kingdom  of  God  is,  however,  not  to  be  preached 
as  though  it  were  a  separate  or  disjointed  economy 
in  a  fragmentary  universe.  There  are  other  and  sub- 
kingdoms  which,  while  they  are  brought  into  being 
and  upheld  by  the  kingdom  that  ruleth  over  all,  con- 
stitute a  series  of  subordinate  and  tributary  princi- 
palities leading  and  looking  up  to  the  height  above. 
From  the  mineral  at  the  base  to  the  Messianic  at  the 
apex,  the  series  ascends  in  beautiful  gradation,  cul- 
minating according  to  the  one  plan  of  the  ages  in 
perfect  completeness  around  the  great  white  throne. 
No  one  of  these  kingdoms  existeth  for  itself.  Each 
is  for  all  and  all  is  for  each  because  all  consti- 
tute ''one  stupendous  whole"  for  Him  who  is 
over  all,  God  blessed  forever  more.  Under  no  other 
view  could  rational  faith  hear  ''the  mountains  and 
the  hills  break  forth  into  singing,"  and  see,  "the 
trees  of  the  field  clap  their  hands. ' '  This  is  the  view 
that  Daniel  seems  to  have  taken  of  the  matter  in  his 
most  wonderful  vision.  It  also,  doubtless,  inspired 
the  leader  of  the  universal  oratorio  as  he  swung  his 


70  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

baton  according  to  the  one  hundred  and  forty-eighth 
Psalm.  That  grand  chorus  breaks  silence  "from  the 
heavens'  and  "in  the  heighth  above."  The  voices 
sound  down  in  choral  harmony  until  it  wakens  the 
echo  from  "the  mountains  and  all  hills,  fruitful  trees 
and  all  cedars,"  "beasts  and  all  cattle,  creeping 
things  and  flying  fowl,"  "fire  and  hail,  snow  and 
vapor,  stormy  wind  fulfilling  his  word."  Then, 
swelling  up  from  the  sub-base,  wdth  all  the  other 
parts  of  the  great  diatonic,  it  rises  to  reach  "his 
glory  above  the  earth  and  heavens — the  praise  of  all 
his  saints,  even  the  children  of  Israel,  a  people  near 
unto  him."  Thus  did  the  Psalmist  look  forward  to 
the  time  of  the  gospel  ministry  when  "they  shall 
speak  of  the  glory  of  thy  kingdom,  and  talk  of  thy 
power"    (Ps.  145:11). 

They  shall  "talk"  of  the  remedial  "power"  of 
thy  kingdom.  At  this  point,  it  is  worthy  of  note 
that  while  the  physical  ills  to  which  the  human 
family  is  heir  are  medicated  by  therapeutic  agencies 
from  the  lower  kingdoms  in  nature,  the  maladies 
which  afflict  the  ethical  and  spiritual  side  of  man's 
complex  being  are  successfully  treated  only  by  reme- 
dies from  the  higher  kingdom  of  grace  and  truth  and 
spiritual  vitality.  For  bodily  diseases  the  healing 
agencies  are  sought,  and  sometimes  found,  in  the 
minerals  of  the  earth,  the  herbs  of  the  vegetable 
realm  or  in  the  serums  found  in  the  animal  world; 
but  the  abnormal  condition  of  the  sin-afflicted  soul 
must  find  its  only  restorative  and  completive  remedy 
in  the  heavenly  Gilead.  Different  schools  of  medi- 
cine may  disagree  as  to  whether  mineral,  vegetable  or 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  71 

animal  agencies  should  be  used  or  held  as  of  most 
supreme  nimportance  in  the  therapeutic  treatment  of 
bodily  ills :  The  so-called  Christian  Science  of  Mrs. 
Eddy,  and  Dowie's  successors  in  shallow,  shameful 
sham,  and  all  the  phycho-therapeutics  of  the  Eman- 
uel movement  in  medical  quackery,  may  contend  for 
the  alleged  efficiency  of  their  respective  treatments 
of  physical  maladies,  but  a  correct  and  thorough  diag- 
nosis of  the  complicated  case  of  human  suffering 
points  to  the  germ-principle  of  human  sin  as  the 
source  of  all  disease,  and  to  the  "sovereign  balm  for 
every  wound"  as  found  alone  in  the  great  royal 
Physician  who  speaks  from  the  throne  of  his  remedial 
kingdom  and  "healeth  all  our  diseases." 

We  are,  therefore,  to  preach  the  kingdom  of  God 
as  a  remedial  kingdom.  A  remedy  implies  the  exist- 
ence and  presence  of  a  malady  in  humanity.  The 
whole  creation  may  groan  and  travail  because  of  its 
having  been  subjected  to  vanity,  but  the  disease  it- 
self has  its  seat  in  the  family  of  man — in  the  human 
race  as  an  organism,  and,  conseqeuntly,  in  all  the  in- 
dividual members  thereof.  Sin  is  the  cause,  yea,  the 
very  essence  of  the  disease  for  which  the  kingdom 
of  God  contains  and  provides  the  only  and  sufficient 
healing  power.  As  there  is  no  other  name  under 
heaven  except  the  name  of  Jesus,  the  Divine-human 
King,  whereby  men  may  be  cured  of  the  malady  of 
sin,  so  there  is  no  other  institution  under  heaven 
replete  with  curative  agencies  except  that  kingdom 
which  we  are  to  preach,  and  whose  Gilead-balm  we 
are  to  proclaim  and  carry  to  all  the  diseased  inmates 
in  the  world's  great  hospital. 


72  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Beloved  brethren :  You  can,  therefore,  never  mag- 
nify the  office  of  the  holy  minister  except  as  you 
have  a  realizing  sense  of  the  fact  that  back  of  the 
office  there  is  an  objective  world  of  objective  entities, 
veritable  realities  and  spiritual  qualities  for  which 
you  stand  and  with  which  you  will  have  to  do. 

An  individual  sent  out  as  an  ambassador  from  an 
earthly  kingdom  invested  with  power  to  do  business 
in  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty  does  not  represent 
himself.  Neither  does  he  preach  some  legislative 
journal  or  congressional  globe,  or  court  docket,  or  an 
abstract  of  statutorial  law,  but  the  government  that 
sent  him,  or,  still  better,  the  King  back  of  the  king- 
dom or  government,  of  which  and  for  which  he  is 
such  duly  authorized  ambassador.  He  really  and 
authoritatively  speaks  for  and  represents  a  kingdom 
or  government  with  its  king  or  head,  its  constitutional 
forces  and  authority,  its  laws  and  statutes  with  the 
blessings  of  obedience  thereto  attached  or  promised, 
and  the  penalties  which  are  to  follow  any  violation 
thereof.  So  with  the  preacher  called  and  sent  of 
God.  He  is  to  represent  and  proclaim  God's  king- 
dom with  all  that  it  involves  as  to  its  personal  source, 
its  organized  constitution  of  heavenly  powers  and 
energy,  its  remedial  agencies  for  diseased  and  dying 
men,  its  promises  of  pardon  and  health  to  penitential 
invalids,  its  consolations  for  the  sorrowful  and  its 
assurance  of  consequent  convalescence  in  a  realm  of 
eternal  glory.  In  fact  and  in  short  the  minister  of 
Christ  is  to  proclaim  and  present  the  kingdom  of 
God,  not  only  in  the  wholeness  of  its  nature  and  mis- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  73 

sion,  but  also  as  having  its  only  full  embodiment  in 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church. 

The  kingdom  of  God  is  further  to  be  preached, 
not  only  as  the  culmination  of  all  sub-kingdoms,  but 
also  and  rather  as  possessing  remedial  agencies 
adapted  to  the  necessities  of  the  kingdom  of  humanity 
immediately  next  beneath  it.  Well  may  we  adopt 
the  language  of  the  Psalmist:  ''The  Lord  send  thee 
help  out  of  the  Sanctuary."  The  Lord  does  send 
such  help  and  health  out  of  the  sanctuary  of  the 
Sanatarium  which  was  opened  in  the  royal  House  of 
David  for  sin  and  luicleanness.  The  malady  of  sin 
calls  for  righteousness  and  holiness  found  fontally 
alone  in  the  absolutely  virtuous  person  of  the  King 
imortal,  and  administered  through  the  agents  incor- 
porated in  His  soteriological  kingdom. 

These  cardinal  facts  of  vital  importance  must  be 
preached  and  emphasized.  Sin  must  be  denounced 
from  the  pulpit,  and  proclaimed  as  the  fruitful  source 
of  all  unrighteous  servitude  and  consequent  sorrow. 
The  minister's  very  attitude  toward  the  pest-house 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  ethical  sanatarium  for  the 
human  race  upon  the  other  should  be  so  generally 
known  and  clearly  seen  by  the  suffering  public  as 
to  make  all  his  sermons  homilies  of  health-restoring 
virtue.  He  should  "cry  aloud  and  spare  not"  as 
did  the  prophet  of  old.  "I  come  not  here  to  talk." 
"You  know  too  well  the  story  of  our  thralldom." 
"We  are  slaves.  By  the  depravity  of  our  nature  we 
are  slaves  to  lusts  within,  unfavorable  environments 
around  and  satanic  powers  in  hostile  array — "slaves 
to  a  hoard  of  petty  tyrants"  from  which  we  may  be 


74  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

emancipated  only  by  the  application  of  the  healing 
virtue  found  alone  in  the  presence  and  power  of 
God's  remedial  kingdom  of  grace  and  truth  in  the 
Church — for  the  world. 

The  question  is  not  whether  men  are  saved  by 
Christ,  or  by  the  Church  which  is  the  embodiment  of 
his  kingdom  on  earth;  but  whether  either  one  saves 
without  the  other — whether  Christ  saves  human  in- 
dividuals without  or  within  the  kingdom.  If  Christ 
were  disposed  to  save  men  without  the  kingdom,  it 
seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  would  not  have 
told  his  ministers  to  "preach  the  kingdom."  If 
Christ  were  pleased  to  save  sinners  by  a  power  and 
in  accordance  with  laws  outside  the  kingdom,  he  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  told  them  to  "seek  first  the 
kingdom,"  and  that  the  kingdom  could  be  seen  and 
entered  only  by  a  new  birth  of  the  water  and  of  the 
Spirit. 

Yes,  young  gentlemen,  you  are  to  "preach  Jesus 
Christ  and  him  crucified,"  yet  not  a  kingdomless 
Christ,  any  more  than  a  Christless  Iringdom ;  Neither 
are  you  to  preach  a  churehless  kingdom,  any  more 
than  a  kingdomless  church.  What  saith  the  Scrip- 
tures? Read  again,  Eph.  3:21.  Not  unto  the 
church,  neither  unto  the  kingdom,  but  unto  God  be 
glory  in  the  church,  by  Christ  Jesus,  throughout  all 
ages,  world  without  end :  and  you  can  neither  preach 
Christ  nor  the  kingdom  unless  you  fully  realize  that 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church  is  the  embodiment  thereof. 
That  is  really  the  true  meaning  of  the  article  in  the 
Creed.  Belief  in  the  Church  in  such  sense  is  some- 
thing more  and  deeper  than  belief  in  the  aggregation 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  75 

of  Christians  or  the  sum  total  of  all  saints.  The 
Church,  as  answerable  to  its  true  idea,  is  just  as  really 
possessed  of  a  supernatural  side  as  is  Christ  himself. 
No  Christless  Church;  no  churchless  Christ! 

Under  a  correct  view  of  God's  all-comprehensive 
Providence  it  may  be  stated  that  He  ordinarily  does 
nothing  outside  of  the  respective  kingdoms  which 
in  their  organic  wholeness  constitute  the  empire  of 
His  expansive  universe.  The  Rock  of  Ages  never 
crystalized  an  amethyst  outside  the  mineral  kingdom 
in  which  he  is  the  great  lapidary.  The  Rose  of 
Sharon  never  painted  the  cheek  of  a  flower  or  caused 
it  to  bloom  outside  the  vegetable  kingdom  to  which  it 
belongs,  even  though  that  flower  may  be  ''born  to 
blush  unseen."  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  never 
undertook  to  plant  a  species  of  the  animal  kingdom 
in  the  strictly  vegetable  realm  of  being.  Nebuchad- 
nezzar was  once  obliged  to  try  the  experiment.  And 
nothing  but  a  vegetable  diet  could  bring  him  to  a 
sane  understanding  as  to  his  proper  place  in  the 
economy  of  the  world.  That  old  royal  monstrosity 
w^as  sent  to  grass  where  he  raised  eagles'  feathers 
for  human  hair  and  birds'  claws  for  finger  nails 
until  he  had  learned  that  the  "heavens  do  rule." 
Then  was  he  returned  to  his  human  kingdom,  per- 
mitted to  resume  his  human  throne  and  sway  again 
his  human  scepter.  He  had  been  taught  that  "the 
dominion  of  the  Most  High  is  an  everlasting  dominion 
from  generation  to  generation." 

The  true  and  tactful  minister  of  the  gospel,  in 
proclaiming  the  kingdom  of  God  with  its  repleteness 
of  heavenly  powers  as  remedial  for  the  whole  crea- 


76  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

tion,  will  also  be  careful  to  avoid  the  common  mis- 
take now  being  made  in  this  age  of  excessively  liberal 
and  radically  progressive  Christendom.  That  mis- 
take is  a  silent  or  tacit  assent  to  the  assumed  cor- 
rectness of  the  growing  popular  sentiment  that  there 
is  some  other  name  than  the  name  of  King  Immanuel 
whereby  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  may  be  rescued 
from  the  miseries  of  their  thraldom  under  the  reign 
of  evil.  The  social  maladies  of  unmentionable  vice, 
the  sins  of  civic  unrighteousness,  the  growing  greed 
of  financial  monopolies,  the  cupidity  of  unconse- 
crated  captial  are  crimes  that  must  not  be  palliated 
from  the  pulpit.  Neither  should  the  criminals  of  the 
pew  be  encouraged  to  hope  for  salvation  because  of 
their  liberal  contributions  to  ameliorate  the  poverty 
for  which  they  are  partially  responsible  and  the 
paupers  which  they  have  helped  to  make  by  their 
nefarious  methods  of  business. 

Furthermore,  the  minister,  as  he  goes  forth  to 
herald  the  will  and  the  ways  of  the  King,  will  also 
remember  that  these  evils  cannot  be  cured,  and  these 
evil-doers  converted  by  abusive  declamation  or 
political  persecution.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  may 
suffer  violence  from  sub-kingdoms,  but  it  has  no  mis- 
sion to  do  them  violence.  In  an  unpretentious  and 
unaffected  manner  it  must  go  out  and  stoop  down 
in  most  manifest  sympathy  for  the  dromedaries  of 
Midian,  Epah  and  they  from  Sheba  before  they  will 
be  inclined  to  dump  their  abnormal  humps  in  the 
valley  of  Hinom,  and  bring  themselves  rather  than 
their  iniquitously  begotten  wealth  to  Zion  for  the  en- 
largement and  enrichment  of  God's  kinsrdom.     Such 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  77 

manifested  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  Church  and 
her  ministers  for  the  world  is  indispensable  in  any 
proper  effort  for  the  world's  conversion. 

In  other  words,  and  finally,  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  order  to  bring  its  helpful  and  completive  power 
to  the  kingdoms  of  this  world,  must  be  presented  as 
touched  with  the  feelings  of  the  world's  infirmities 
before  it  can  successfully  minister  to  their  real  nec- 
essities, and  make  their  essential  substance  to  become 
very  elements  incorporated  in  the  one  heavenly  king- 
dom which  ruleth  over  all,  and  is  destined  to  assimi- 
late all,  before  that  kingdom,  now  in  its  remedial 
form,  can  be  delivered  up  (1  Cor.  15:21)  to  God, 
even  the  Father,  that  God  may  be  ^'all  and  in  all," 
in  fulfillment  of  all  his  predictive  prophecies. 


78  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 


LECTURE   VI 

The  iDEiAL  Preacher's  View  of  the  Relation  Be- 
tween God's  Remedial  Kingdom  and  the 
other    Institutions    of    Divine 
Ordination 

Hitherto  it  has  been  shown  that  the  ideal  minis- 
ter's work  consists  principally  in  proclaiming  with 
emphasis  to  the  world  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand;  that  the  preaching  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  essentially  the  same  as  to  ''declare  the  gospel,"  or 
to  ' '  preach  Christ  and  him  crucified ; ' '  that  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  to  be  proclaimed  as  an  established  in- 
stitution on  earth,  replete  with  heavenly  powers — a 
veritable  objective  economy,  having  its  embodiment 
in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church;  that  though  its  exist- 
ence in  time  and  space  is  not  dependent  for  its  reality 
on  faith  or  upon  the  Christian's  strictly  correct  ap- 
prehension thereof,  it,  nevertheless,  has  its  reflective 
side  in  the  true  believer's  personal  experience;  that 
the  King  and  the  kingdom  and  its  mystical  embodi- 
ment in  the  church  are  all  complemental  to  each 
other;  that  while  this  Messianic  kingdom's  position 
in  the  economy  of  the  universe  is  completive  of  all 
in  the  comprehensive  plan  and  purpose  of  the  Al- 
mighty King,  it  is  to  be  preached  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  remedial  virtue  it  contains  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  mankind,  and  the  restoration  of  individual 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  79 

persons  to  the  favor  of  God;  that  in  order  to  be  suc- 
cessful in  the  accomplishment  of  such  divine  purpose, 
it  must  be  made  manifest  in  the  preacher's  procla- 
mation of  the  gospel  that  the  King,  the  kingdom  and 
the  heralds  thereof  are  all  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  the  fallen  world's  infirmities. 

The  foregoing  recapitulation  suggests  an  inquiry 
as  to  what  is  the  ideal  preacher's  full  scope  of  ser- 
monic  activity.  How  far  is  he  to  treat  of  other 
powers  divinely  ordained  of  God  ?  In  what  sense  does 
the  family,  the  State  and  the  school  fall  within  his 
proper  pulpit  range?  To  the  great  Examplar  for  a 
hint  in  the  right  direction !  When  our  Lord  sent 
out  his  disciples  to  begin  the  evangelization  of  the 
world,  he  seems  to  have  sent  them  directly  into  the 
homes  of  the  people.  ''Into  whatsoever  house  or 
household  ye  enter"  pronounce  your  introductory 
benediction  of  peace  upon  that  house.  This  was  in 
agreement  with  the  promise  made  to  Abraham  that 
in  his  seed  all  the  famiilies  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed;  and  it  was  doubtless  so  because  of  the  pecul- 
iar relation  of  the  family  to  the  whole  organic  con- 
stitution of  humanity.  The  family  is  not  a  mere  or- 
ganization. It  is  the  oldest  and  most  vital  institu- 
tion in  the  whole  natural  economy  of  the  race, 
grounding  itself  in  the  very  fountain-flow  of  man- 
kind. 

The  family  is  sacred  and  holy  in  its  natural  con- 
stitution, and  it  must  always  retain  and  exercise  its 
holy  function  in  the  development  of  the  race,  even 
under  the  foreign  power  of  sin.  It  originates  in  mar- 
riage which  is  of  divine  origin.     Under  its  sanction 


80  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

the  man  and  the  woman  become  one  flesh  by  virtue 
of  a  supernatural  and  sacramental  element  brought 
to  it  from  above.  The  husband  begets  and  becomes 
a  father.  The  wife  conceives  and  becomes  a  mother. 
Children  are  born  and  the  organic  sum  total  becomes 
a  fully  fledged  family.  The  family  thus  becomes  the 
cradle,  the  nursery  and  sanctuary  of  the  terrestrial 
paradise  in  the  elements  of  mutual  love  and  confi- 
dence— the  gem  of  social  beauty,  the  Gibralter  of  so- 
cial strength  and  the  foretaste  of  all  that  heaven  can 
hold.  Such  is  the  constitution  of  the  home,  even 
upon  the  plane  of  humanity  as  fallen,  in  consequence 
of  the  great  transgression. 

How  much  more  is  the  Christian  family  the  minia- 
ture of  the  whole  social  constitution  in  the  ethical 
universe  since  the  powers  of  the  supernatural  world 
raised  it  more  approximately  near  to  its  true  idea 
as  that  exists  only  in  the  mind  of  God.  When  the 
Son  of  God  entered  the  bosom  of  our  fallen  humanity 
he  brought  into  the  domestic  institution  a  principle 
of  sanctity,  in  consequence  of  which  it  was  elevated 
to  a  plane  of  holy  dignity  that  otherwise  would  have 
been  unattainable.  Hence,  for  this  additional  reason 
the  popular  practice  of  perpetuating  the  crime  of 
divorce  between  husband  and  wife,  the  crime  of  neg- 
lecting children  by  the  parents,  and  the  rebellion  of 
children  against  parental  authority,  and  other  unmen- 
tionable vices  in  the  superlative  degree  of  moral 
turpitude  are  transgressions  approximately  near  the 
unpardonable  sin.  Domestic  insubordination,  mari- 
tal infidelity  and  a  growing  lust  for  licensed  and  un- 
licensed sensuality  are  sapping  the  foundation  of  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  81 

old  home  with  all  its  constitutional  endearments  and 
elements  of  human  hopes,  to  such  a  degree  as  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  minister  to  the  home  as  the  very 
first  of  the  institutional  powers  ordained  of  God. 
Gentlemen :  there  is  no  man  with  the  wide-awake 
vision  of  an  intelligent  seer  who  is  unable  to  forecast 
the  early  fulfillment  of  that  predictive  prophecy 
which  fell  from  the  immaculate  lips  of  Gallilee's 
great  Sage: — •"The  powers  of  heaven  shall  be 
shaken."  And  is  not  the  domestic  institution  now 
being  shaken  from  the  foundation  thereof  to  the 
rafters  that  support  the  roof  of  the  superstructure? 
How  long,  Oh,  Lord^  can  the  present  domestic  deca- 
dency continue  before  it  produces  that  abomination 
more  desolate  in  its  nature  and  deeper  in  its  damna- 
tion than  any  that  pagan  plummet  ever  sounded. 

Yet,  when  the  case  is  viewed,  as  it  should  be  in 
the  light  of  Christendom's  noon-day  glare,  such  a 
catastrophe  as  the  complete  overthrow  of  the  domestic 
institution  is  not  to  be  classed  among  the  possibilities 
of  the  future.  The  family  is  not  to  perish  from  the 
earth ;  for  if  such  were  to  be  the  case,  the  human  race 
itself  would  soon  be  doomed  to  the  rude  clay  from 
which  it  sprung,  "unwept,  unhonored  and  unsung." 
Such  a  degeneration  is  absolutely  inconceivable,  be- 
cause that  whereas  the  sin  of  such  domestic  dissipa- 
tion doth  abound  in  the  direction  of  seeming  dissolu- 
tion, the  promised  remedy  of  divine  deliverance  shall 
yet  much  more  abound  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord;  and  the  auspicious  morn  of  domestic  deliver- 
ance will  dawn  when  all  our  churches  are  pastored 
with  ideal  ministers;  when  all  our  bishops  are  hus- 

6 


82  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

bands  of  ideal  Christian  wives,  whose  holiest  zeal 
shall  be  to  raise  ideal  Christian  households,  and  when 
such  ideal  families  shall  be  the  ideal  rally-points,  out 
from  which  and  aroimd  which  shall  move  the  powers, 
and  go  forth  the  influences  that  shall  serve  as  the 
much  needed  leaven  in  the  meal  of  our  fallen  human- 
ity. 

Not  that  the  ideal  Christian  family  or  the  ideal 
minister's  family  can  take  the  place  of  God's  king- 
dom in  the  remedial  economy  of  the  ethical  universe, 
but  that  it  is  the  most  receptive  and  the  best  dispen- 
ser of  the  redeeming  virtue  which  is  fontally  in 
Christ  and  his  kingdom,  and  which  was  in  the  mind 
of  the  inspired  prophet  when  he  made  a  record  of 
his  prayer:  "The  Lord  send  thee  help  out  of  the 
sanctuary."  Indeed,  so  vitally  are  these  two  insti- 
tutions related  to  each  other  that  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment record  the  inspired  writer  speaks  of  ''the  church 
in  the  house,  or  household  or  family,"  which  is  the 
older  of  the  two  as  to  the  date  of  its  organization 
in  flesh  and  blood.  The  family  was  upon  our  planet 
when  "the  groves  were  God's  first  temples,"  and 
when  the  birds  of  paradise  warbled  their  parts  in 
the  service  of  song.  It  has  been  here  for  six  thou- 
sand years;  it  is  here  today  and  it  is  here  to  stay,  in 
all  its  social  prominence  and  beauty  among  all  the 
ordained  institutions  of  God.  No  ecclesiastical  aris- 
tocracy, no  self-sufficient  social  democracy,  no  spas- 
modic spurts  of  mere  men's  movements  for  the  con- 
version of  the  world  in  this  generation,  no  periodic 
spasm  of  evangelisticism,  no  combination  or  co-opera- 
tion of  denominations  with  all  the  religious  orders, 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  83 

clubs  and  leagues  in  our  distracted  Christendom  can 
ever  be  compared  with  the  truly  Christian  family 
in  its  constitutional  ability  to  receive  the  germ-prin- 
ciple of  that  divine  leaven  which  was  brought  to  our 
world  by  the  advent  of  God's  kingdom,  or  develop 
and  apply  that  principle  like  the  Christian  home  for 
the  purpose  of  assimilating  the  whole  moral  lump  of 
humanity,  until  it  is  fully  restored  to  the  image  of 
its  Maker  and  permitted  to  bathe  forever  in  the  rays 
of  its  great  Original. 

Unless  the  wi^iter's  observations  for  three-fourths 
of  a  century  are  of  no  value,  and  the  carefully  tabu- 
lated religious  statistics  of  the  Christian  world  are 
of  no  trustworthiness,  and  the  promises  of  God  are 
of  no  effect,  the  great  majority  of  ideal  preachers 
come  into  the  gospel  ministry  from  ideal  Christian 
homes. 

Note  the  men  who  have  played  the  most  telling 
parts  upon  the  stage  of  life's  great  moral  and  relig- 
ious reforms.  See  their  characters  standing  out  in 
bold  conspicuity  and  beautiful  relief  upon  the  bet- 
ter, brighter  pages  of  the  world's  great  history.  They 
were  not  born  in  the  slums  of  vice,  neither  were  they 
nursed  and  nurtured  under  the  high  pressure  of 
spasmodic  and  ephemeral  religiousness.  A  few  names 
are  sufficient  to  represent  the  whole  galaxy  of  stars 
in  the  ministerial  firmament.  Nevin,  Schoff  and 
Kfummacher,  Chalmers,  Baxter  and  Boston,  Calvin, 
Luther  and  Zwingli,  Ambrose,  Augustine  and  Basil, 
Samuel,  John  the  Baptist  and  our  Lord  himself  were 
either  cradled  in  pious  families  or  nurtured  by  pious 
mothers. 


84  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

If  it  be  not  unpardonable  to  refer  at  this  point  to 
the  plastic  powers  that  entered  into  the  construction 
of  my  early  life,  and  have  since  helped  to  mold  and 
direct,  in  a  most  helpful  way,  the  history  of  my  own 
ministerial  career,  I  will  modestly  refer  to  the  indel- 
ible impression  made  upon  my  mind  and  stamped 
upon  my  character  under  the  nurture  and  admoni- 
tion of  the  Lord  in  my  father's  family.  The  tender- 
ness of  Mother's  heart,  fused  with  the  firmness  of 
stern  authority  on  the  part  of  my  father  in  family 
government,  the  teachings  of  the  supremacy  of  God's 
holy  word  as  the  ground  of  all  moral  obligation,  a 
vivid  sense  of  the  binding  sanctity  of  the  Lord's  day, 
the  holy  atmosphere  inhaled  at  the  family  altar,  and 
the  pre-eminency  of  Christ  in  all  things,  combined  to 
form  an  influence  over  me  that  must  run  parallel 
with  my  deathless  being,  and  which  will  continue  to 
make  me  a  debtor  to  the  old  domestic  sanctuary  for 
any  fidelity  and  success  I  may  have  had  in  the  min- 
isterial office.  The  present  recollection  of  that  hal- 
lowed circle  brings  most  vividly  to  mind  the  epitaph 
written  by  Robert  Burns  upon  the  tomb-stone  of  his 
friend  Glenn  Cairn,  which,  paraphrased,  may  read: 

The  monarch  may  forget  the  crown, 
Which  on  his  head  an  hour  hath  been ; 
The  bride-groom  may  forget  the  bride 
Was  made  his  wife  on  yestereen ; 
The  mother  may  forget  the  child 
That  smiled  so  sweetly  on  her  knee 
But  I'll  remember  thee,  old  home, 
And  all  that  thou  hast  done  for  me. 

Next  to  the  family,  the  nominally  Christian  State 
is  held  by  the  ideal  preacher  as  an  institution  sus- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  85 

taining  an  important  and  auxiliary  relation  to  God's 
remedial  kingdom  with  its  embodiment  in  the  Church. 
The  State  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  separate,  but  rather 
distinct  from  the  Church.  If  the  family  is  the  nurs- 
ing mother  of  our  infant  religious  hopes,  the  State 
should  be  the  foster-father  of  our  Christian  liberties. 
This  heaven-ordained  relation  was  not  clearly  recog- 
nized by  either  the  Roman  or  Jewish  nations  at  the 
advent  of  our  holy  religion.  It  was  different  in  the 
teachings  of  our  Lord.  His  tacit  injunction  was: — 
''What  God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put 
asunder,"  and  w^hat  God  holds  distinct,  let  not  man 
attempt  to  fuse  into  one.  Because  of  prejudicial 
blindness  here,  "Herod  sought  the  young  child's  life 
to  destroy  it,"  and  Pilate  nailed  the  world's  hope  to 
the  cross.  The  first  ten  Roman  emperors  compelled  the 
infant  church  to  pass  through  the  fire  of  perssecu- 
tion.  And  even  Constantine,  the  first  nominal  Chris- 
tian emperor  is  still  suspected  of  having  been  more 
devoted  to  false  diplomacy  than  true  divinity.  He 
was  semi-Arian  in  his  Christology  and  semi-barbarian 
in  his  civic  methods.  The  church  received  more  pro- 
tection from  his  throne  than  benefit  from  his  theology. 

Oh  Constantine !    Great  Constantine ! 
With  pagan  head  and  Christian  heart. 
What  incongruities  were  thine 
How  inexcusable  that  part 
Of  thy  career  in  which  thy  crown 
Was  stained  with  infamous  renown ! 

Thy  star,  baptized  with  fire  and  blood, 
Like  Mars,  incarnadined  the  skies. 
Thy  throne  for  toleration  stood 


86  •    THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

That  Christian  empire  might  arise. 

Thy  banner  "In  hoc  signo  vinces" 

Was  crimsoned  with  the  blood  of  princes. 

The  history  of  civic  government  from  Constan- 
tine  to  the  present  confirms  the  correctness  of  the 
position  that  even  the  nominal  Christian  State  does 
little  more  than  to  guarantee  to  its  citizens  the  right 
to  freedom  of  conscience  in  religion.  Indeed,  both 
the  family  and  the  State  are  so  constituted  and  re- 
lated to  the  kingdom  of  God  as  to  be  divinely  ordained 
receptacles,  rather  than  fountains  of  that  remedial 
virtue  whose  mission  on  earth  is  to  bless  all  the 
families  and  nations  of  the  earth  as  to  make  them 
bearers  of  God's  full  salvation  in  the  church  to  the 
whole  human  race.  This  they  can  do  to  its  complete- 
ness only  in  the  proportion  that  they  permit  them- 
selves to  become  thoroughly  Christianized  and  fully 
leavened  by  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  which  is  the 
source  of  all  and  which  ruleth  over  all. 

The  somewhat  decadent  State  of  the  Church — 
'^Landes  Kirche" — in  parts  of  Germany,  and  the 
equally  deplorable  condition  of  the  state-govern- 
ment in  England,  are,  at  least  partially,  attributable 
to  an  improper  relation  between  the  ecclesiastical 
and  civil  powers  in  those  two  great  nations  of  the 
world.  In  Germany  a  fusion  of  the  forces  of  State 
and  Church  may  be  cited  as  at  least  the  partial  cause 
for  the  alarming  tendency  among  scholars,  ration- 
alistically  inclined  toward  religious  liberalism,  the 
trend  in  democracy  toward  atheistic  socialism,  and 
the  estrangement  of  a  large  portion  of  the  working 
class  from  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  toward  secu- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  87 

lar  societies.  In  England  the  elect  clergymen  are 
exhibiting  their  surplice  in  Parliament,  while  the 
crazy  suffragettes  are  filling  the  metropolis  of  the 
world  with  the  hideous  howls  of  blood  and  thunder 
and  petticoat  politics.  Any  attempt  to  blend  politics 
with  piety  will  lead  to  the  development  of  false  dip- 
lomacy rather  than  to  true  devotion  in  religion.  In 
the  tottering  republics  of  South  America  its  daily 
production  is  a  crop  of  revolutions.  In  Mexico  the 
false  alliance  has  been  breeding  anarchy  until  now 
both  Church  and  State  are  in  danger  of  perishing 
from  the  earth  which  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the 
kingdom  of  Spain  once  saturated  with  Montazumian 
blood. 

The  ideal  minister  will,  therefore,  see  his  duties 
clearly  outlined,  and  govern  himself  accordingly. 
Anything  that  promises  in  a  passive  way  to  develop 
and  protect  the  family  life  in  its  purity  and  vigor 
suggests  a  proper  topic  for  the  wide  awake  pulpit ; 
and  anything  in  the  social  world  which  threatens 
the  sanctity  of  the  home  affords  a  very  proper  theme 
for  pulpit  discussion  and  denunciation.  So,  too,  in 
the  pulpit's  relation  to  the  State.  Anything  in  poli- 
tics to  which  bad  men  and  political  rogues  may  resort 
in  order  to  further  their  nefarious  schemes — any- 
thing calculated  to  beguile  or  deceive  the  unsuspect- 
ing populace,  pervert  evangelical  principles  and 
teachings  in  matters  of  religion,  and  manifestly  dan- 
gerous to  public  morals  and  civic  righteousness — 
anything,  in  fact,  that  would  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly militate  against  the  laws  or  vital  forces  essen- 
tial to  the  Church's  prosperity,  falls  within  the  com- 


88  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

pass  of  the  faithful  preacher's  scope  of  sermonic 
duties.  His  authority  and  encouragement  for  this 
seeming  enlargement  of  his  homiletic  horizon  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  his  divine  Master  is  head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church.  Indeed  he  would  be  justified 
in  such  a  course  as  a  Christian  patriot  desirous  of 
giving  to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  but 
as  an  ambassador  of  Christ  he  aims  at  what  is  more 
ultimate  in  the  line  of  logical  consequences.  With 
Isaiah,  he  is  thus  actuated  in  all  his  ministerial  ac- 
tivities:— ''For  Zion's  sake  I  will  not  rest,  and  for 
Jerusalem's  sake  I  will  not  hold  my  peace."  His 
desire  is  to  bring  both  Caesar  and  his  diadem,  and 
place  them  in  the  service,  and  upon  the  once  thorn- 
crowned  brow  of  Christ,  that  all  the  glory  may  be 
"in  the  Church,  by  Christ  Jesus,  throughout  all  ages, 
world  without  end." 

There  is  another  alarming  symptom  in  the  case 
now  under  diagnosis.  The  wide  awake  preacher 
cannot  easily  fail  to  see  that  undue  emphasis  is  now 
being  laid  upon  the  Sunday  School  as  compared  with 
the  Church  in  her  true  character  and  commission 
to  preach  the  Word  and  administer  the  sacraments. 
There  is  something  sadly  ominous  in  the  fact  that 
the  children  in  the  Sunday  School  are  seen  going 
out  of  the  basement  while  a  few  parents  and  adults 
are  entering  the  auditorium  of  the  sanctuary  to  scat- 
ter themselves  among  the  empty  pews.  Is  there  no 
remedy  for  the  evil  of  thus  putting  asunder  what 
God  has  joined  together  in  one  flock?  Has  the  min- 
ister no  message  from  the  good  Shepherd  to  the 
lambs?     While  this  divorcement  is  taking  place,  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  89 

ordinary  and  the  truly  devotional  elements  of  the 
proper  church  service  are  being  pushed  aside  by  a 
program  of  special  entertainments  in  order  to  com- 
pete successfully  with  the  popular  moving  picture 
attractions.  Stage  thunder  is  manufactured  by  the 
perverted  pulpit.  Spurts  of  spasmodic  zeal  are  sub- 
stituted for  the  steady  perseverance  of  the  saints. 
This  state  of  things  is  alarming  to  the  mind  and  sad- 
dening to  the  heart  of  the  fully  consecrated  and  dis- 
cerning preacher  of  the  everlasting  gospel.  It  should 
be  so.  The  spirit  that  now  vapors  in  the  shadows 
of  many  of  our  Protestant  modernisms  will  not  sus- 
tain the  Church  in  the  hour  of  need ;  and  the  proceed- 
ings of  this  boastful,  yet  decadent  age,  will  mature  a 
crisis,  such  as  has  not  yet  been  recorded  upon  the 
pages  of  Zion's  past  history. 

Another  matter  to  which  the  ideal  preacher  gives 
his  proper  and  proportionate  attention  is  the  School. 
The  School  is  not  an  institutional  power  ordained  of 
God  in  the  sense  that  the  same  is  predicable  of  the 
Family,  the  Church  and  the  State.  Educational  in- 
stitutions and  scholastic  activities  are  the  outgrowths 
rather  of  this  trinity  of  heaven-ordained  powers.  It 
is  one  form  in  which  these  divine-human  powers  logi- 
cally impart  their  benefits  to  the  human  race.  From 
the  foundation  of  the  domestic  kinder-garten  to  the 
towering  peak  of  the  great  Christian  university  runs 
the  scholastic  thread  which  is  spun  from  the  vital 
forces  and  sacred  fibers  of  these  three  powers  ordained 
of  God,  and  which  will  continue  to  be  thus  drawn  out, 
woven  and  interwoven  into  the  historic  woof  and  warp 
and  web  of  concrete  Christian  history  until  it  en- 


90  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

lightens  the  race,  enwraps  the  world  and  encircles 
the  great  white  throne  with  a  holy  halo  of  splendor, 
reflecting  the  infinite  intelligence  of  Him  in  whom 
are  hidden  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge, and  unto  whom  is  to  be  all  the  glory. 

Such  being  the  nature  and  mission  of  the  domes- 
tic, parochial  and  public  school  system  in  the  most 
logical  and  proper  onflow  of  Christian  civilization, 
it  is  not  hard  to  see  the  relation  of  the  Christian  min- 
ister to  the  great  academia  of  the  moral  and  intellec- 
tual universe.  His  relation  to  the  Church,  the  cen- 
tral channel  of  the  world's  development  in  knowl- 
edge, is  such  as  to  invest  him  with  the  responsibility 
of  a  spokesman  and  leader  among  the  people.  Even 
way  back  in  the  time  of  Malachi,  it  was  enjoined  that 
^'the  priest's  lips  should  keep  knowledge."  This 
knowledge  is  not  to  be  kept  in  a  secretive  sense,  but 
acquired  and  stored  up  to  be  imparted  as  information, 
not  only  to  those  who  are  of  the  household  of  faith, 
but  also  to  all  others  who  on  the  outside  are  in  need 
of  enlightenment.  The  Old  Testament  injunction 
was  broadened  and  its  scope  enlarged  in  the  giving 
of  the  apostolic  commission.  "Disciple  all  nations 
and  teach  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you."  Full  obedience  to  his  com- 
mand requires  the  preacher  to  be  an  educator — not 
merely  as  a  missionary  among  heathen  nations,  but 
also  as  a  leader  in  all  religious  and  ethical  enterprises 
and  activities.  This  relation  to  the  great  problem 
of  human  enlightenment  is  recognized  by  all  the  great 
scholastic  institutions  of  the   Church   and  world  in 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  91 

calling  for  ministers  to  man  and  manage  their  schools 
for  higher  education. 

This  responsibility  of  the  preacher  does  not  imply 
that  he  is  to  dabble  in  every  movement  seeking  to 
palm  itself  off  as  something  in  the  interest  of  moral 
reform,  educational  uplift,  religious  advancement  or 
church  extension.  If  wide  awake  and  endowed  with 
the  power  of  discernment,  he  will  guard  against  the 
danger  of  cultivating  a  morbid  desire  of  clerical  offi- 
ciousness  and  a  disposition  to  pose  conspicuously  be- 
fore the  public  as  the  bright  and  shining  light  of  a 
ministerial  toad-stool.  By  taking  heed  at  this  point 
he  will  guard  against  the  ambition  by  which  the 
angels  fell.  God  have  mercy  upon  the  preacher  who 
is  eager  to  leap  from  the  pulpit  to  the  more  public 
platform  under  the  direction  of  the  lecture  bureau 
that  he  may  there  and  then  and  thus  exhibit  himself 
and  display  his  eloquence  before  the  foot-lights !  Let 
him  open  his  eyes  and  behold  the  danger-signal  hung 
out  by  an  applauding  audience.  The  competition  in 
this  role  is  with  men,  many  of  whom  will  be  ready 
to  crowd  him  from  the  stage  upon  which  he  has  no 
legitimate  calling  to  serve  the  public.  "The  stars 
in  their  courses  fought  against  Sisera."  Let  all 
other  clerical  Siseras  take  warning  and  remember 
that  the  modern  drift  in  pulpit  secularism  is  toward 
the  final  conflict  in  the  world's  great  history  when 
the  issue  is  to  be  fairly  made  and  the  battle  fought 
to  a  finish  at  Megiddo  or  Armageddon  (Kev.  16 :  16 
and  19:20). 

The  preacher's  security  against  such  apostate 
drift  from  the  path  of  his  high  calling  is  in  his  pos- 


92  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

sibility  and  power  to  arise  out  of  and  above  the  world 
of  carnal  secularity  and  move  in  the  higher  realm 
of  freedom  from  the  seductive  temptations  to  center 
in  self.  "If  ye  walk  in  the  Spirit,  ye  shall  not  ful- 
fill the  lusts  of  the  flesh."  This  spiritual  state  of 
mind  is  an  essential  part  of  the  minister's  full  equip- 
ment for  the  work  which  the  Father  has  given  him 
to  do.  And  why  should  he  not  be  expected  to  thus 
qualify  himself  with  such  a  heavenly  endowment  in 
holy,  helpful  visions  of  the  heavenly  world?  Is  not 
the  way  still  open  for  evangelists  to  be  "  in  the  Spirit 
on  the  Lord's  day,"  rise  above  the  mere  records  of 
lettered  historical  facts,  and  enter  into  the  very  cur- 
rent of  the  great  historic  mystery  itself  w^hich  is  now 
sw^eeping  onward  and  upward  to  the  full  consumma- 
tion of  its  own  reality  in  that  great  hereafter  which 
seems  to  be  so  close  at  hand?  Why  should  not  the 
ministry  of  Jesus  Christ  today  be  enriched  with  more 
St.  Johns  who  are  able  to  "revolve  reason  into  intui- 
tion and  faith  into  sight,"  even  though  the  day  of 
apostolic  vision  may  be  past.  Why  should  there  be 
lout  one 

"Bird  of  God  with  heavenly  flight 
Soaring  far  beyond  the  height 
Of  the  bard  and  prophet  old; 
Truth  fulfilled  and  truth  to  be, — 
Never  purer  mystery 
Did  a  purer  tongue  unfold!" 

Such  preachers  sustain  to  mere  pulpit  scriptor- 
ians  a  relation  somewhat  similar  to  that  which  the 
author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  sustained  to  the 
Synoptists — not  necessarily  in  a  contradictory   atti- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  9S 

tude,  but  occupying  rather  a  higher  and  more  ad- 
vanced spiritual  position.  This  is  not  table-tumbling 
spiritualism,  but  the  most  superlative  degree  of  gen- 
uine spirituality  attainable  in  this  life.  St.  John 
did  not  set  aside  or  ignore  the  cardinal  historic  facts 
of  Christianity  brought  out  in  the  life  of  Christ,  for 
he  also  "saw  and  bare  record"  and  averred  that  ''his 
record  is  true."  The  beloved  disciple,  instead  of 
forgetting  to  remember,  remembered  to  omit  from 
his  more  spiritual  record  much  "that  Jesus  began  to 
do  and  to  teach  before  the  day  in  which  he  was  taken 
up"  through  the  everlasting  gates,  because  such  re- 
cord was  not  essential  to  the  main  purpose  he  had 
in  view  in  presenting  the  gospel  from  a  more  divinely 
inspired  and  intuitive  standpoint,  and  in  the  light  of 
a  more  heavenly  vision  of  the  truth  that  was  brought 
under  the  scope  of  his  eagle-eye.  Such  spirituality 
and  such  vision,  so  far  as  they  are  now  attainable  by 
scholarly  and  fully  consecrated  preachers,  may  not 
raise  them  into  the  inspiring  and  apostolic  realm 
of  heavenly  vision  reached  by  the  Seer  of  Patmos, 
but  it  will  equip  them  with  a  power  not  possessed 
by  the  preacher  measurably  destitute  of  such  minis- 
terial qualification.  Such  a  vision  of  the  realities  of 
the  heavenly  w^orld,  and  such  rare  inspiration  by 
heavenly  powers  lift  the  preacher  out  of  the  delusive 
dream  of  self-sufficiency  into  a  vivid  consciousness  that 
God  is  and  his  exceeding  great  reward.  It  fills  his  soul 
with  sober  zeal,  baptizes  his  tongue  with  supermun- 
dane eloquence  and  enables  him  to  make  his  high  call- 
ing and  election  sure  in  covering  the  full  scope  of  his 
ministerial  duties. 


^4  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 


LECTURE  VII 

The  Supernatural  Source  of  the  Ideal  Preacher  ^s 

Efficiency 

The  last  lecture  treated  of  the  ideal  preacher's 
full  scope  of  activity  as  an  ambassador  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  his  thorough  equipment  for  the  respon- 
sibilities of  his  office.  It  was  shown  that  while  the 
King  and  Kingdom  of  God  are  the  sources  of  his 
authority  and  power,  the  family,  Church  and  State 
are  the  divinely  ordained  recipients  and  bearers  of 
such  authority  and  power  in  the  way  of  ethical  and 
educational  activities;  that  the  Christian  minister's 
lips  are  to  keep  and  dispense  the  knowledge  essen- 
tial to  the  enlightenment  and  ultimate  salvation  of 
the  whole  human  race;  that  such  responsibility  of 
the  preacher  does  not  invest  him  with  any  right  to 
dabble  officiously  in  matters  beyond  his  proper  realm 
of  duty;  that  unjustifiable  intermeddling  as  a  busy- 
body in  other  men's  matters  is  likely  to  lead  him  into 
such  entangling  alliances  with  secular  affairs  as  to 
sap  the  foundation  of  his  ministerial  character,  de- 
stroy his  influence  for  good,  and  eventually  allure 
liim  by  the  false-glowing  charms  of  the  devil;  that 
his  security  against  such  apostate  tendency  is  in  the 
culmination  of  that  spiritual  frame  of  mind  and  fer- 
vor of  devotion  which  may  lift  him  above  the  unhal- 
lowed ambition  by  which  the  angels  fell;  that  such 
helpful  guarantee  of  safety  and  qualification  for 
duty  are  to  be  secured  by  so  rising  into  the  higher 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  95 

altitudes  of  the  divine  life  as  to  be  able  to  draw  aside 
the  curtain  and  catch  visions  of  the  heavenly  world; 
and  that  only  when  thus  equipped  with  the  whole 
panoply  of  God  will  he  become  a  truly  ideal  preacher, 
and  be  fully  able  to  make  his  high  calling  and  elec- 
tion sure  by  covering  and  cultivating  the  whole  field 
of  his  ministerial  usefuhiess. 

The  vision  of  the  world  to  come,  alluded  to  in  the 
foregoing  paragraph,  is  an  element  of  the  first  im- 
portance in  the  equipment  and  efficiency  of  the  Chris- 
tian minister.  This  indispensable  element  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  preacher  will  logically  become  a  fac- 
tor of  force  in  the  evangelical  pulpit.  It  grounds 
itself  in  that  vital  relation  of  the  minister  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  so  forcefully  illustrated  by  the  great 
Prince  of  preachers  under  his  parabolic  discourse 
upon  the  vine  and  its  branches.  While  that  simili- 
tude teaches  the  vital  fellowship  between  Christ  and 
all  true  believers,  it  is  applicable  with  special  force 
to  the  relation  between  the  Lord  and  his  ordained 
ministerial  servants.  Every  man  in  his  own  order. 
Christ  first :  afterwards  they  that  are  Christ 's. 
Christ  is  the  chief  minister  of  the  New  Testament 
^'Tabernacle  which  the  Lord  pitched  and  not  man." 
He  is  the  Anointed  One.  Ministers  of  the  gospel  are 
anointed  by  virtue  of  their  peculiar  relation  to  Ilim. 
''The  anointing  which  ye  have  received  of  him 
abideth  in  you. ' '  1  John  2  :  27.  Ministers  are  espe- 
cially anointed  to  do  ambassadorial  work  in  his  name 
and  by  his  authority  and  grace.  We  are  to  ' '  consider 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  apostle  and  High  Priest  of  our 
profession."     "Because  he  loved  righteousness"  with 


96  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

an  eternal  affection,  and  hated  iniquity  with  an  ever- 
lasting aversion,  ' '  he  was  anointed  above  his  fellows. ' ' 
(Heb.  1:9). 

Let  us  grasp  and  hold  firmly  to  the  true  idea  of 
power  from  Christ  and  the  heavenly  realm  in  which 
he  sits  enthroned  and  from  which  he  dispenses  gifts 
unto  men.  Under  one  view  even  Christ  could  do 
nothing  of  himself  except  as  he  stood  in  vital  rela- 
tion to  the  Father  and  to  the  power  and  glory  that 
he  had  with  him  before  the  world  was.  And  if  the  Son 
of  God  who  became  the  infinite  Prince  of  preachers, 
could  do  nothing  of  himself,  as  evidenced  from  his 
own  lips,  and  was  therefore  able  to  do  the  work  which 
the  Father  had  given  him  to  do  only  because  the 
Father  was  with  him,  and  because  he  lived  by  the 
Father,  how  much  less  are  finite  ministers  able  to  ful- 
fill their  ministry  without  a  supply  of  strength  and 
efficiency  from  the  same  heavenly  and  infinite  source  ? 

It  was  the  ncarnation  which  so  brought  that  power 
into  humanity  and  organically  embodied  and  personi- 
fied it  in  the  Man  of  Gallilee  as  to  cause  even  the  sea 
and  the  waves  to  obey  him ;  and  it  is  the  vital  relation 
of  the  ideal  preacher  to  his  Lord  that  gives  him  such 
access  to  a  vision  of  and  participation  in  the  powers 
of  the  heavenly  world  which  he  needs  as  the  first  and 
most  indispensable  element  of  fitness  in  his  official 
self,  and  a  factor  of  force  in  his  pulpit  efforts.  It 
is  only  under  this  view  that  the  meaning  of  the  apos- 
tolic commission  can  be  imderstood.  ''All  power  is 
given  unto  me;  go  ye  THEREFORE." 

It  was  because  the  adopted  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter  was  more  religiously  inclined  to  seek  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  97 

supernatural  and  see  the  invisible  that  he  was  not 
swept  away,  like  his  brother  Aaron  and  sister  Miriam, 
into  religious  idolatry  in  the  form  of  calf-worship. 
In  that  crisis  of  his  life  and  crucial  test  of  his  char- 
acter Moses  '^endured  as  seeing  him  who  is  invisible" 
through  the  natural  and  sensuous  organ  of  vision, 
while  Aaron  and  the  great  body  of  the  people  wavered 
in  their  more  sensuous  type  of  piety  until  they  called 
the  wrath  of  heaven  upon  their  semi-idolatrous  wor- 
ship. Let  modern  Christendom,  priests  and  people, 
read,  take  warning  and  govern  themselves  accord- 
ingly. Let  naturalistic  preachers  know  Christ  after 
the  flesh  no  more,  adjust  the  angle  of  their  spiritual 
vision  and  sweep  the  more  heavenly  realm  of 
spiritual  realities.  Then  will  they  lay  less  stress  up- 
on the  organization  of  new  societies,  attach  less  im- 
portance to  the  contriving  of  now  contraptions,  spend 
less  time  in  planning  new  whirlwind  campaigns  along 
mere  humanistic  lines,  conjure  up  less  schemes  of 
new  religious  jugglery  and  introduce  less  novelties 
into  their  pulpits  for  the  momentary  entertainment 
of  their  dying  audiences. 

Woe  unto  us  if  we  preach  not  the  gospel !  Let 
our  rationalistic  and  sentimenetal  preachers  remem- 
ber that  mere  reason  has  never  yet  been  able  to  show 
the  way  to  happiness  and  God.  Let  our  sentimental 
clergymen  understand  that  mere  feeling  is  no  safe 
guide  to  glory.  Let  our  sensational  preachers  know 
that  political  juggler,  the  vaudeville  and  the  moving 
picture  shows  can  beat  them  every  time  in  such  argu- 
mentum  ad  hominem  appeals  to  passion.  Let  our 
popular  preachers  discontinue  their  eating  from  the 

7 


98  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

miserable  flesh  pots  of  Egyptian  naturalism  and 
sample  a  few  of  the  grapes  of  Canaan.  Let  them 
cease  drinking  from  the  polluted  pools  of  humanism 
whose  stagnant  waters  are  dangerous  with  the  deadly 
microbes  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil.  Let 
them  rather  drink  from  heaven's  Pierian  spring 
whose  water  Christ  is  willing  to  give,  if  they  would 
have  within  them  a  well  of  weter  springing  up  unto 
everlasting  life.  The  minister  who  fails  to  supply 
his  necessity  from  such  a  source  will  not  be  suspected 
of  being  very  closely  related  to  St.  John's  evangelical 
angel  who  was  seen  flying  through  the  heavens  hav- 
ing the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  to  every  nation, 
kindred  and  tongue. 

Humanitarian  clergymen  in  the  garb  of  Christian 
ministers,  and  yet  in  the  realm  of  naturalism!  Over 
a  half  century  ago,  Horace  Bushnell,  speaking  from 
the  very  heart  of  Puritanism  in  his  great  book: 
Nature  and  the  Supernatural  said  "Like  an  atmo- 
sphere, it  (Naturalism)  begins  to  envelop  the  common 
mind  of  the  religious  world.  We  frequently  detect 
its  influence  in  the  practical  difficulties  of  the  young 
members  of  the  churches,  who  do  not  even  suspect 
the  true  cause  themselves.  Indeed  there  is  nothing 
more  common  than  to  hear  arguments  advanced,  and 
illustrations  offered  by  the  most  evangelical  preach- 
ers, that  have  no  force  or  meaning,  save  what  they 
get  from  the  current  naturalism  of  the  day.  We 
have  even  heard  a  distinguished  and  carefully  ortho- 
dox preacher  deliver  a  discourse,  the  very  doctrine 
of  which  was  inevitable,  unqualifled  naturalism.  Log- 
ically taken  and  carried  out  to  its  proper  result,  Chris- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  99 

tianity  could  have  had  no  ground  of  standing  left — so 
little  did  the  preacher  himself  understand  the  true 
scope  of  his  doctrine,  or  the  mischief  that  was  be- 
ginning to  infect  his  own  conceptions  of  the  Chris- 
tion  truth." 

Dr.  John  W.  Nevin,  in  his  review  of  the  above 
mentioned  book,  in  the  same  year  of  its  appearance 
from  the  press,  described  the  above  class  of  preachers 
as  follows :  ' '  They  profess  to  honor  Christianity  as  a 
divine  revelation,  take  its  language  familiarly  upon 
their  lips,  persuade  themselves,  it  may  be,  that  they 
continue  strictly  loyal  to  its  heavenly  authority;  and 
yet  all  the  time  they  are  false  to  its  claims  and  cast 
it  down  from  its  proper  excellency,  substituting  for 
it  in  their  minds  another  order  of  thought  altogether. 
In  this  way  we  are  surrounded  on  all  sides  with  a 
nominal  Christianity,  which  is  little  better  in  truth 
than  a  sort  of  baptized  Paganism,  putting  us  off  con- 
tinually with  heathenish  ideas  expressed  in  Chris- 
tian terms." 

Without  the  recognition  and  help  of  supernatural 
powers  minsters  cannot  rise  above  themselves.  They 
can  do  little  more  than  run  as  one  that  beateth  the 
air.  They  cannot  transcend  their  sordid  selves  into 
that  higher  plane  of  their  better  selves.  Such  eleva- 
tion can  only  be  in  virtue  of  the  coming  down  of  a 
higher  element.  This  fact  is  realized  by  the  ideal 
preacher.  He  is  presumed  to  have  felt  the  presence 
of  its  power  and  the  necessity  of  its  presence  and 
uplift.  He  feels  and  acknowledges  that  the  super- 
natural must  work  in  and  through  the  natural.  If 
he   has   read   history    correctly,    he    sees    this    truth 


100  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

demonstrated  in  the  ages  past.  The  Grecians,  and 
in  fact  all  the  nations  west  from  Palestine  believed 
in  the  possibility  of  attaining  perfection  by  self-ele- 
vation, even  into  the  sphere  of  the  gods,  having  eyes 
that  see  not  and  ears  that  hear  not.  The  more  an- 
cient and  oriental  nations  ,  east  of  Palestine,  believed 
that  such  elevation  could  be  effected  only  by  the  com- 
ing down  of  the  gods  into  human  nature,  in  such  a 
way  as  to  become  incarnations  or  avatars.  The  truth 
between  these  two  mythological  errors  was  brought 
to  light  in  the  great  mystery  of  godliness,  when  the 
Son  of  God  in  person  and  in  power  came  down  from 
heaven,  and  in  the  very  bosom  of  our  natural  human- 
ity established  a  reservoir  and  order  of  supernatural 
power  in  and  with  the  natural,  by  which  the  whole 
organism  of  the  race  may  be  elevated  into  union  with 
God,  and  all  individual  members  thereof  into  fellow- 
ship with  each  other. 

The  ideal  preacher's  recognition  of  the  essential 
presence  of  the  supernatural  in  the  constitution  of 
Christianity  starts  with  a  proper  view  of  Christ's 
theanthropic  person.  He  is  held  by  all  such  minis- 
ters as  the  Alpha  of  the  whole  Christian  alphabet, 
with  all  its  vowels  and  consonants.  Like  Peter  who 
had  the  first  proper  look  behind  the  veil  of  the  na- 
tural, they  see  and  apprehend  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as 
the  truly  divine  Christ  of  God.  Not  through  an 
organ  of  flesh  and  blood,  but  by  a  more  spiritual 
revelation,  they  properly  apprehend  his  theanthropic 
person  and  proclaim  Him  as  the  one  who  cometh  from 
Edom  with  dyed  garments  and  from  Bozrah,  mighty 
to  save. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  101 

The  preacher  who  fails  to  have  and  to  hold  such 
proper  recognition  of  the  Deity  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  to  have  his  whole  psychic  being 
filled  with  a  sense  of  such  Messianic  majesty  is  in 
danger  of  floundering  and  falling  by  the  wayside, 
because  he  does  not  have  the  assurance  that  "beneath 
him  are  the  everlasting  arms."  Like  Samson,  he  is 
shorn  of  the  locks  of  his  strength,  and  is  at  all  times 
in  danger  of  falling  into  the  lap  of  some  false  Delila, 
while  the  uncircumcised  Philistines  rush  in  upon 
him,  gouge  out  his  eyes  and  put  him  to  grinding  at 
the  mills  of  mere  humanism. 

Brethren,  blow  the  trumpet  in  Zion.  Let  the  elect 
angels  weep  between  the  porch  and  the  altar.  There 
is  a  softening  sentiment  now  at  work  in  Protestant 
Christendom  in  its  naturalistic  way  of  holding  the 
great  mystery  of  godliness.  Dogmas  that  were  once 
held  sacred  and  settled  for  all  time  to  come,  are  now 
obliged  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  either  rationalism, 
the  religion  of  reason,  or  sentimentalism,  the  religion 
of  mere  feeling.  By  many  ministers  Christ's  divinity 
is  not  openly  and  absolutely  denied,  yet  the  correlated 
doctrine  of  his  virgin  birth  is  being  called  into  ques- 
tion as  contrary  to  natural  law.  Parthenogenesis  is 
rejected  because  it  is  said  to  be  antinomial.  Sophis- 
try !  That  which  is  above  nature  is  not  necessarily 
contrary  to  the  ordinary  working  of  nature's  laws. 
Let  this  antinomial  rule  be  made  the  standard  and 
test  of  all  heavenly  truth,  and  the  whole  Christian 
system  would  fall  away,  and  our  holy  religion  would 
be  proven  to  be  the  most  wretched  delusion  ever 
palmed  off  upon  the  trembling  hopes  of  mankind. 


102  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Christianity  could  not  stand  with  any  essential  part 
of  its  organic  whole  surrendered  to  the  rationalistic 
sappers  and  miners  that  are  now  encompassing  and 
entering  Zion.  What  God  hath  joined  together,  no 
ideal  minister  will  attempt  to  put  asunder.  He 
vainly  tries  to  save  any  organic  part  who  lacks  the 
courage  and  consistency  to  contend  for  the  whole. 

Indeed  the  whole  remedial  order  of  divine  redemp- 
tion from  the  mystery  of  Bethlehem  to  the  equally 
great  mystery  in  which  we  shall  all  be  changed  in  a 
moment  at  the  sounding  of  the  last  trumpet,  is  noth- 
ing less  than  one  concrete  economy  replete  with  super- 
natural elements  incarnated  in  the  natural.  It  is  not 
an  order  of  heavenly  powers  starting  in  the  spirit  to 
end  in  the  flesh.  A  sound  Christology  must  be  fol- 
lowed most  logically  and  organically  by  a  sound 
ecclesiology.  The  ideal  preacher  will  apprehend,  and 
the  ideal  sermon  will  comprehend  it  as  such.  The 
holy  Catholic  Church  is  not  only  consequential,  but 
also  sequential  to  a  holy  Catholic  Christ — and  both 
are  objects  of  faith.  This  supernatural  order  of 
being  was  thus  conceived  in  the  eternal  purpose  of 
God,  incorporated  in  the  primitive  constitution  of 
concrete  Christianity,  apprehended  by  the  Church 
Fathers,  formulated  in  the  early  and  all  other  ecu- 
menical creeds  of  Christendom,  publicly  and  almost 
universally  professed  as  the  Christian  centuries 
rolled  by,  from  Nicea  down  the  ages  to  the  more  recent 
opening  of  the  flood-gates  of  religious  rationalism. 
Even  though  the  Romish  communion  did  lay  undue 
stress  upon  the  Church  as  over  against  its  pre-emi- 
nently divine  Head,  its  perversion  of  the  truth  did 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  103 

not  make  the  faith  of  God  of  none  effect.  Protes- 
tantism undertook  to  correct  the  false  trend  that 
started  in  the  dawn  of  the  dark  ages.  It  has  done 
much  in  the  right  direction,  but  down  to  date  it  has 
not  yet  made  entirely  good.  Much  of  its  tendency 
is  now  alarmingly  in  the  other  direction.  Too  many 
preachers  and  too  many  religious  movements,  while 
trying  to  bring  forth  the  royal  diadem  to  crown 
Immanuel  Lord  of  all,  are  only  putting  another  crown 
of  thorns  upon  his  head.  They  so  strip  his  bride  of 
her  supernatural  jewels  that  she  is  unprepared  to 
meet  her  heavenly  husband  at  the  coming  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb. 

It  is  not  implied  in  the  foregoing  paragraph, 
neither  should  it  be  inferred  therefrom  that  the  ideal 
preacher  preaches  supernaturalism  from  his  pulpit 
or  that  he  is  expected  to  soar  through  the  transcen- 
dental heavens  like  a  blading  comet.  He,  however, 
has  within  him  the  inwrought  consciousness  that  he 
is  permeated  with  the  powers  of  the  heavenly  world, 
overshadowed  by  supernatural  realities,  and  uplifted 
by  the  eternal  arms.  His  Christology  is  such  as  to 
beget  a  correspondingly  divine  ecclesiology,  and  this 
again  necessitates  a  soteriology  with  supernatural 
elements  and  forces.  To  deny  the  presence  and  power 
of  the  supernatural  in  the  preaching  of  the  Word, 
and  the  proper  administering  and  use  of  the  sacra- 
ments is' nothing  less  than  religious  infidelity,  and  to 
substitute  something  else  therefor  is  nothing  less  than 
an  attempt  to  build  the  temple  of  God  with  untemp- 
ered  mud.  This  is  just  what  much  of  our  American 
Protestantism  is  now  trying  to  do.     Modern  methods. 


104  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

some  of  them  good  and  commendable,  are  unconsci- 
ously substituted  for  the  ancient  ''faith  once  for  all 
delivered  to  the  saints."  Human  contrivances  and 
contraptions  are  blocking  the  King's  highway  to  an 
earlier  dawn  of  the  millennial  day. 

Finally,  if,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the  entire  range 
of  objective  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  is  filled 
and  made  efficient  unto  salvation,  by  virtue  of  its 
supernatural  realities,  it  logically  follows  that  the 
subjective  faith  by  which  these  realities  are  appre- 
hended and  appropriated  must  also  necessarily  have 
supernatural  contents  wrought  therein  by  superna- 
tural agencies.  In  other  words,  genuine  faith  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  must  be  itself  superna- 
tural. It  must  be  the  power  of  passing  beyond  na- 
ture, so  as  to  "lay  hold  of  things  heavenly  and  divine 
in  their  own  higher  order  and  sphere."  (Nevin) 
"The  Holy  Ghost  works  such  faith  in  the  believer's 
heart  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  confirms  it 
in  the  proper  use  of  the  sacraments."  This  truth 
the  ideal  preacher  also  recognizes.  Spiritual  things 
must  be  spiritually  discerned.  The  general  law  of 
corollaries  requires  it.  For  want  of  such  correla- 
tion some  men's  faith  is  in  vain,  and  they  are  yet  in 
their  sins.  Men  cannot  see  through  the  ears  or  hear 
through  the  olfactory  nerve.  There  must  be  a  recip- 
rocal relation  between  the  object  of  vision  and  the 
organ  of  vision.  When  not  so  correlated,  there  is  no 
evidence  of  things  unseen.  Mere  intelligent  judg- 
ment is  not  faith.  Neither  can  faith  subsist  upon  it- 
self. There  is  too  much  of  this  circular  syllogistic- 
ism  in  matters  religious. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  105 

In  the  early  part  of  my  mystery,  in  Westmoreland 
County,  Pennsylvania,  I  was  called  to  visit  an  old 
gentleman  in  his  last  sickness.  My  spiritual  counsel 
with  him  at  the  bedside  unexpectedly  drcAV  out  the 
following  from  his  pallid  lips:  "Preacher,  I  have 
great  faith  in  belief."  He  had  sadly  misunderstood 
Luther's  great  peripheral  doctrine  of  justification 
through  faith,  and  substituted  for  it  justification  for 
faith.  He  could  not  see  those  objective  realities  in 
Christianity  which  must  always  remain  invisible  to 
men  who  are  spiritually  blind,  neither  could  his 
"faith  in  belief"  draw  any  nutrient  principle  of  spir- 
itual life  by  the  attempt  that  it  was  making  to  feed 
upon  a  meager  diet  of  self. 

That  clinical  experience  reminded  me  of  a  ridicu- 
lous sight  I  witnessed  when  a  boy.  One  of  my 
father's  cows  had  twin  calves.  During  the  day  the 
cow  was  turned  out  to  pasture,  and  the  calves  were 
left  in  the  stable  to  await  her  return  in  the  evening. 
In  their  mother's  absence  they  became  hungry,  and 
began  to  suck  each  other's  ears.  Even  to  a  boy  the 
performance  seemed  superlatively  ludicrous.  There 
was  not  much  milk  in  their  diet,  neither  was  there 
much  increase  of  veal  in  their  calfish  vanity.  So  in 
much  of  our  emotional  religion  and  so-called  church- 
work.  There  is  more  saliva  than  salvation.  Fun? 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  That  which  can  not  be  reasoned  out 
of  a  false  position  should  be  laughed  out  of  coun- 
tenance. Even  the  ideal  minister  may  be  pardoned 
for  wearing  an  occasional  smile.  The  grapes  of  the 
promised  land  cannot  be  gathered  from  the  thorns  of 
nature.     Let  all  preachers  arise  in  the  energy  of  their 


106  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

supernatural  endowments,  and  in  the  might  of  their 
heavenly  calling,  and  like  Moses,  show  their  endur- 
ance and  their  genuine  success  in  the  gospel  ministry 
by  so  adjusting  the  angle  of  their  spiritual  vision  as 
to  see  the  otherwise  invisible  realities  in  the  great 
mystery  of  godliness.  When  logic  is  dumb  and  rea- 
son fails  to  give  an  adequate  answer  to  the  inquiries 
of  the  yearning  heart,  the  regenerated  soul's  power 
to  evidence  the  realities  of  things  unseen  may  yet  shed 
the  radiance  of  its  incandescent  light  upon  the  high- 
way that  leads  to  the  great  white  throne. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  107 


LECTURE  VIII. 

The  Ideal  Preacher  as  a  Christian  Philosopher 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  vision  of  the  world 
to  come  is  essential  to  the  full  equipment  and  efficiency 
of  the  Christian  minister ;  that  such  vision  is  possible 
only  when  he  sustains  that  vital  relation  to  Christ 
indicated  in  his  parabolic  teaching  under  the  simili- 
tude of  the  vine  and  the  branches,  and  when  the 
official  anointing  he  has  recceived  in  ordination 
abideth  in  him  (1  elohn  2:27)  ;  that  such  full  min- 
isterial efficiency  implies  a  supernatural  realm  of 
power  in  virtue  of  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God  into 
humanity  for  us  and  for  our  salvation;  that  wide 
awake  preachers  so  adjust  the  angle  of  their  spiritual 
vision  as  to  transcend  the  merely  natural,  and  sweep 
the  more  heavenly  realm  of  supermundane  realities; 
that  when  the  minister  so  arises  into  the  realm  of 
heavenly  power  whatever  is  contrary  to  nature  will 
find  its  corrective  in  the  remedial  powers  of  the 
heavenly  world,  and  the  preacher  will  find  himself 
in  an  element  really  natural  to  himself ;  that  when  the 
minister  so  arises,  through  his  regeneration  and  ordina- 
tion, as  to  have  his  citizenship  and  conversation  in 
heaven  fPhil.  3:20)  he  becomes  so  really  and  truly 
a  naturalized  citizen  in  his  newly  adopted  and 
heavenly  country  as  to  spurn  the  popular  and  ephem- 
eral spurts  of  spasmodic  religiousness;  that  this  min- 
isterial grasp  of  the  supernatural  starts  with  the 
proper  recognition  of  Christ's  person,  continues  logi- 


108  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

cally  through  a  corresponding  ecclesiology  and  soter- 
iology,  on  to  the  closing  chapter  of  eschatology  when 
we  shall  be  supernaturally  changed  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye. 

Preaching  the  gospel,  though  primarily  a  procla- 
mation of  evangelical  truth,  should  be  the  delivery 
of  a  message  of  such  character  and  contents  as  to 
enable  the  people  to  see  the  most  reasonable  service 
to  which  they  are  called  in  the  presentation  and  hear- 
ing of  such  message.  True,  there  may  be  many  who  for 
want  of  mental  capacity  are  unable  to  follow  the  min- 
ister with  a  philosophical  turn  of  mind  in  his  presen- 
tation of  the  truth  or  truths  which  he  publicly  pro- 
claims; and  yet  the  truth,  "like  many  a  gem  of  purest 
ray  serene,"  always  involves  in  its  very  essence  rea- 
sons that  may  not  always  sparkle  out  obviously  upon 
the  surface.  Probably  it  was  for  this  reason  that  the 
great  Prince  of  preachers  announced  ''I  have  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  receive  them 
now. ' ' 

Yet,  notwithstanding  man's  incapacity  to  receive 
all  that  is  in  the  mind  of  the  great  Teacher  sent  from 
God,  and  his  corresponding  inability  to  understand  it, 
the  real  preacher  is,  nevertheless,  strong  in  the  clear 
consciousness  and  full  assurance  that  Christianity, 
as  a  concrete  force  element  present  in  the  world,  has 
its  tap-root  deep  down  in  the  philosophy  of  things, 
as  well  as  in  the  person  of  its  divine  Founder.  Jesus 
Christ  was  and  is  not  only  the  great  Saviour,  but  the 
Man  of  Galilee  was  and  is  also  the  greatest  philos- 
opher in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  principles 
of  true  philosophy  are  grounded  in  the  hypostatic 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  109 

constitution  of  this  wonderful  being,  applied  in  his 
atonement,  promulgated  in  his  teachings  and  pro- 
claimed in  the  preachings  of  his  ambassadors.  Philo- 
sophia  the  love  of  wisdom,  the  love  of  life  and  the 
life  of  love  all  poise  and  perpetuate  themselves  in 
'Hhe  Science  of  the  Absolute,"  which  is  the  source  of 
all  other  sciences.  It  rocked  the  cradle  at  Bethlehem, 
sparkled  out  in  the  miracles  of  the  Messiah,  suffered 
the  contradiction  of  sinners,  wove  the  crown  of  thorns 
and  endured  the  tragedy  of  the  cross  in  the  crimson 
crisis  of  the  atonement  upon  the  bloody  tree  until  it 
accompanied  its  divine  human  apostle  back  through 
the  everlajsting  doors  to  the  arcanum  of  its  native 
realm  beyond  the  stars. 

Preachers  who  feel  the  flowing  of  this  divine 
philosophic  under  current  in  the  depths  of  the  great 
mystery  of  Godliness,  and  who  are  consequently  in- 
spired by  a  heaven-born  intuition,  sustain  to  mere 
pulpit  scriptorians  a  relation  somewhat  similar  to 
that  which  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  sustains 
to  the  synoptists — not  necessarilly  in  a  contradictory 
attitude,  but  occupying,  rather,  a  higher  and  more 
advanced  spiritual  position.  This  is  not  table- 
tumbling  Spiritualism,  but  the  most  superltaive 
degree  of  genuine  spirituality  attainable  in  this 
present  section  of  human  life.  St.  John  did  not 
set  aside  or  ignore  the  historic  facts  of  Christ- 
ianity, he  also  "saw  and  bare  record,"  and  averred 
that  his  ' '  record  is  true. ' '  The  beloved  disciple  instead 
of  forgetting  to  remember,  remembered  to  omit  from 
his  record  of  much  that  Jesus  began  to  do  and  to 
teach,  because  such  statement  of  historic  facts  was 


no  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

not  essential  to  the  purpose  he  had  in  view  in  his 
presentation  of  the  gospel  from  a  more  divinely  in- 
spired, philosophic  and  intuitive  point  of  view;  and 
in  the  light  of  a  more  heavenly  vision  of  the  truth 
as  surveyed  by  his  eagle-eye,  and  seized  by  his  more 
penetrative  exploration  of  the  spiritual  world.  Such 
spirituality,  to  the  extent  that  it  is  now  attainable  by 
scholarly  and  fully  consecrated  preachers  may  not 
raise  them  into  the  same  apostolic  rank  and  philos- 
ophic realm  of  heavenly  vision  reached  by  the  seer  of 
Patmos,  but  it  will  equip  them  with  a  power  not 
possesed  by  the  minister  measurably  destitute  of  such 
qualifications.  Such  vision  of  the  realities  of  the 
heavenly  realm,  and  such  inspiration  by  heavenly 
powers  lift  the  minister  out  of  the  delusive  dream  of 
self-sufficiency  into  a  vivid  consciousness  that  God  is 
his  all-sufficiency,  and  his  exceeding  great  reward.  It 
fills  his  soul  with  sober  zeal  and  baptizes  his  tongue 
with  supermundane  eloquence  as  he  takes  to  his 
philosophic  diving-bell  and  plunges  into  the  deep' 
ocean  of  everlasting  truth,  and  brings  to  the  surface 
those  sparkling  gems  which  are  never  found  floating 
upon  the  surface  of  shallow  waters. 

Man's  relation  to  his  God,  as  the  relation  of  the 
image  to  the  original,  justified  the  invitation  from  the 
Infinite  One :  ' '  Come  now  and  let  us  reason  together ; ' ' 
and  because  humanity  is  intoned  mth  divinity  the  insa- 
tiable longings  of  the  human  intellect  to  penetrate  the 
Infinite  seem  to  presuppose  that  there  is  an  infinite 
field  for  exploration  in  the  person  of  the  Deity.  This 
insatiable  yearning  was  not  entirely  unknown  to  the 
ancients.     Although  the  philosopher  of  Uz  despaired 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  111 

of  finding  out  God,  and  of  knowing  ''the  Almighty 
to  perfection/'  yet  he  resolved  to  "go  even  unto  his 
seat  with  his  mouth  full  of  arguments,"  and  thus 
he  was  persistent  in  his  pursuit: — "I  know  that  my 
Vindicator  liveth  and  that  he  shall  stand  in  the  latter 
day  upon  the  earth,  and  that  I  shall  see  him  in  my 
flesh." 

So  too  with  the  psalmist  David.  While  he  observed 
that  there  was  darkness  round  about  Jehovah's  throne, 
his  eye  of  philosophic  faith  could  yet  penetrate  the 
sombrous  veil  as  to  see  Him  so  pavillioned  in  splendor 
as  to  draw  out  the  logical  thread  of  the  most  comfort- 
ing conclusion  that  in  "His  presence  there  is  fullness  of 
joy,  and  at  His  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for 
evermore. ' ' 

Philosophy  is  that  which  evokes  and  justifies 
thought  in  matters  that  lie  beneath  the  surface  of 
things.  Such  thought  was  challenged  and  justified 
by  the  Lord  himself  when  he  asked  Peter;  "What 
think  ye  of  Christ?"  Men  will  think  of  somebody 
or  something — men  7mist  think  of  Christ  in  order  to 
know  him  unto  life  eternal ;  and  ministers  must  think 
profoundly  and  broadly  in  order  to  make  him  known 
unto  the  salvation  of  others.  In  religion,  thought  may 
not  be  able  to  scale  the  attitude  attainable  by  faith, 
yet  when  a  man  quits  thinking  his  faith  either  becomes 
superstitious  or  passes  from  the  earth.  Jesus  Christ 
was  the  greatest  thinker  that  ever  stepped  into  the 
arena  of  thought  or  moved  in  the  realm  of  intellect- 
uality. His  religion  has  provoked  more  stalwart 
ratiocination  than  all  the  lyceums,  printing  presses 
and  propagandists  of  the  world.    Such  mental  inquiry 


112  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

lies  along  the  line  of  the  investigation  that  leads  up 
to  the  knowlege  of  Him  whom  Christ  came  to  reveal. 
It  met  the  case  of  Thomas  the  skeptic,  and  when 
Jesus  accompanied  him  in  his  philosophic  re- 
quest, "Show  us  the  Father  and  it  will  satisfy  us," 
the  most  accommodating  and  philosophic  answer  came 
back :  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father. ' ' 

To  this  fact  the  history  of  the  world  can  testify. 
It  is  just  what  the  ancient  civilizations  tried  to  do, 
but  the  chronic  effort  was  signally  futile  because  it 
failed  to  embrace  and  retain  God  in  its  knowledge. 
Hence  its  inevitable  drift  to  the  ultimate  necessity 
of  erecting  its  altar  "#o  the  Unknown  God/' 

Just  at  that  time  a  supernatural  light  flashed  from 
the  skies  of  Damascus.  That  flash  was  brighter  and 
sharper  than  a  Damascus  blade.  God 's  chosen  ' '  vessel 
to  the  Gentiles"  was  "not  disobedient  unto  the 
heavenly  vision. ' '  Following  the  new  revelation  from 
heaven,  St.  Paul  stepped  from  Asia  into  Europe 
to  find  that  the  world's  most  vigorous  form  of  think- 
ing had  reached  its  highest  acme  to  fall  to  its  lowest 
depths  of  disappointment  in  the  collapse  of  the  Par- 
thenon. A  man  of  greater  endowments  than  Plato 
climbed  the  bloody  summit  of  Mars  Hill,  escaped  the 
speculative  superstition  of  Grecian  philosophy  and 
proclaimed  the  higher  philosophy  or  wisdom  of  God  in 
the  mystery  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Absolute  Philos- 
opher, even  in  the  hitherto  ' '  hidden  wisdom  "  in  a  mys- 
tery ' '  which  none  of  the  princes  of  the  world  knew,  for 
had  they  known  it,  they  would  not  have  crucified  the 
Lord  of  glory. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  113 

Besides  the  transition  from  the  traditional  teaching 
of  the  Pharisees  under  Philo  and  other  founders 
of  the  Alexandrine  school  of  Christian  thought 
toward  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos  as  taken  up  and 
advanced  by  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  and 
the  apocalyptic  soaring  of  St.  John  to  the  highest 
grade  of  Christian  knowlege  then  attainable  within 
the  ecstatic  realm  of  religious  mysticism,  and  the 
philosophic  cast  of  thinking  by  St.  Paul,  the  early 
age  of  Christianity  was  not  primarily  productive  of 
theological  and  Christological  reasoning.  Christians 
were  intuitively  such  in  the  element  of  love  It  was 
only  when  the  new  religion  was  assailed  by  heretics 
that  religious  reasoning  entered  the  arena  to  contend 
for  the  faith  and  wage  battle  for  the  truth  as  it  had 
been  revealed  through  Jesus  Christ  and  set  forth  in  the 
sacred  manuscripts  of  the  inspired  writers.  Persecu- 
tion kept  the  fires  of  philosophic  polemics  from  burst- 
ing forth  into  flames  of  heated  discussion.  Martyrdom 
was  at  a  premiun  and  metaphysics  at  a  discount. 

But  the  state  of  things  in  the  primitive  church 
could  not  continue  in  and  through  the  full  necessary 
development  of  what  was  involved  in  the  Kingdom 
of  God  planted  upon  the  earth  at  the  beginning  of 
Christian  history;  and  those  religious  mummies  who 
do  not  think  vainly  hope  to  develop  themselves  to  the 
stature  of  men  in  the  fullness  of  symmetrical  matur- 
ity. Hence  the  necessity  for  theology  which  has  to  do 
with  the  philosophy  of  the  divine  manifestations  of  the 
Deity  and  their  application  to  the  economy  of  that 
part  of  the  moral  universe  so  far  as  it  is  located  upon 
this  sin-disturbed  planet. 

8 


114  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Justin  Martyr  is  looked  upoD  as  the  first  Christian 
theologian.  From  Justin's  time  the  philosophy  of 
the  Divine  Person  and  divine  things  began  to  arise 
and  move  toward  its  highest  attainable  point  for  that 
age  under  Athanasius,  the  great  champion  of  the 
Catholic  faith  as  formulated  in  the  theology  or  rather 
the  Christology  of  the  ancient  creeds.  Then,  even 
before  the  Athanasian  Creed  was  fully  flung  to  the 
breeze  of  Christendom,  the  current  of  real  thoughtful 
realization  began  to  recede  before  the  dismal  dawn  of 
the  dark  ages  and  the  decadency  of  healthful  and 
helpful  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  divine  realities. 
About  the  time  that  Mohammedanism  began  to  arise 
with  its  bloody  passion  for  the  conquest  of  the  world 
under  the  Crescent,  Rome  started  forward  to  follow 
the  star  of  her  semicarnel  ambition  toward  the  setting 
sun.  Instead  of  using  genuine  philosophy  to  sway  the 
world  by  the  power  of  concentrated  reason  and  evan- 
gelical faith,  she  sought  to  spread  her  own  unphilos- 
ophical  empire  by  the  artful  diplomacy  of  the  Romish 
See,  the  dominancy  of  the  Romish  hierarchy  and  the 
miserable  mummeries  of  monastic  superstition. 

In  that  polluted  pool  of  stagnant  thought  Christian 
philosophy  was  not  surrounded  with  environments 
favorable  to  its  fair  development.  As  the  sholastic 
age  of  reasoning  dawned  upon  the  church,  dialective 
religiousness  was  substituted  for  the  rational  faith.  The 
human  mind  became  so  adventurous  in  its  aimless 
soarings  as  to  seemingly  presume  that  the  objective 
existence  of  Christianity  depended  largely  upon  the 
logic  of  the  schools.  Magnus  Albertus,  more  vesatile 
than  profound  as  a  thinker,  poured  his  compilation  of 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  115 

the  world's  erudition  into  the  seething  caldron  of 
sholastic  agitation.  Thomas  Aquinas  became  his  pupil, 
and  such  was  his  intellectual  acuteness  that  he  soon 
excelled  his  teacher,  and  became  Doctor  Angelicus  of 
Italy.  Aquinas  amd  Duns  Scotus  entered  the  arena  of 
a  dialectic  conflict  which  made  the  pages  of  its  record 
memorable  in  medieval  history.  The  Thomists  and  the 
Scotists  were  arrayed  against  each  other  with  a 
bitterness  unworthy  of  the  church,  and  a  valor  worthy 
of  a  better  cause.  This  controversy  was  intensified  by 
the  fact  that  these  two  leading  apostles  represented  the 
competing  Orders  of  their  time — the  Dominicans  and 
the  Franciscans — which,  again,  represented  respec- 
tively, the  Aristotelean  and  the  Platonic  methods  of 
ratiocination — and  the  oscinations  were  at  times  very 
ratty.  These  chronic  discussions  showed  that  philos- 
ophy had  been  taught  to  look  upon  Biblical  theology 
with  contempt,  while  theology  drew  its  ecclesiastical 
drapery  about  itself  and  went  to  sleep  in  the  arms  of 
the  pope, 

Yet  the  church  had  life  enough  left  in  her  shriveled 
form  to  get  out  of  patience  with  the  fruitless  con- 
troversies so  long  fostered  in  her  distracted  bosom. 
Reconciliation  and  compromise  between  dialectics  and 
mystics  became  the  unconscious  demands  of  the  age. 
There  was  truth  in  scholasticism  and  elements  of 
worth  in  mysticism  to  which  they  were  driven  by  the 
unsatisfactory  religion  of  dry  disputation.  These  could 
not  be  abandoned  in  the  settlement  of  the  questions 
at  issue.  The  times  were  waiting  for  competent  leader- 
ship to  solve  or  dissolve  the  problem  and  save  the  more 
valuable  fragments.     That  leader  came  to  the  front 


116  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

in  the  person  of  Bonaventura,  assisted  by  such  coop- 
erators  as  Anselm,  Hugo,  and  Rupert.  The  task  was 
undertaken  and  partially  performed  by  the  revival  of 
genuine  philosophic  reasoning,  evangelical  faith  and 
personal  consecration  in  religious  mysticism.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  a  fruitless  yet  fruitful  frit- 
tering away  of  philosophy  vainly  so  called,  and  frigid 
intellectuality.  The  curtain  began  to  fall  before  that 
old  stage  of  medieval  attempt  to  substitute  reason  for 
faith,  and  the  Scholastic  age  of  the  Christian  church 
went  out  with  the  thirteenth  century  of  the  Christian 
Era. 

The  Sholastic  mode  of  thinking  having  filled  its 
mission  and  passed  away  with  the  midnight  of  the 
dark  ages,  the  fullnes  of  the  time  for  a  logical  reaction 
began  to  dawn  upon  the  hazy  horizon  of  the  world. 
The  Renaissance  followed  in  the  comprehensive  his- 
toric course  of  a  well-ordered  providence.  The  Refor- 
mation of  the  sixteenth  century  was  not  primarily  a 
movement  in  philosophy,  but  of  doctrine  and  Christian 
morals.  It  was  also  a  mammoth  demonstration  of  the 
philosophy  of  Christian  history.  Among  other  things 
it  demonstrated  the  fact  that  one  extreme  tendency 
begets  another  in  the  world's  onflow.  Action  begets 
counteraction.  The  pendulum  had  swung  for  cen- 
turies in  the  direction  of  arbitrary  authority  over 
men,  and  the  corrective  remedy  applied  thereto  sent 
the  reverse  movement  in  the  direction  of  arbitrary 
freedom  in  men  until  religious  liberty  ran  rampant  to 
ward  our  modem  sect  system  in  which  there  is  neither 
sane  religion  nor  sound  philosophy. 

The   seventeenth   and    eighteenth   centuries   were 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  117 

rather  reproductive  of  traditionalism  in  religion  than 
productive  of  Christological  theology  and  philosphical 
ecclesiology.  Indeed  the  atmosphere  was  rather  filled 
mth  more  of  the  odors  of  eschatology  than  fragrance 
from  the  Rose  of  Sharon.  The  world  was  active :  the 
church  measurably  passive.  It  was  the  dawning  of 
the  golden  age  of  literature.  Shakespeare  flung  his 
tragedies  and  his  comedies  into  the  playhouse  of 
Europe,  Milton  lost  and  regained  his  paradise,  and 
Bacon  incubated  his  Ovum  Organum.  Yet  it  remained 
for  the  semireligious  champions  of  a  questionable 
orthodoxy,  like  Lessing,  Schiller,  Kant  and  Hegel 
to  startle  Germany  and  the  world  with  their  philos- 
ophic Wissensckaft. 

It  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  the  devout  spirit  of  Christian  philosphy 
was  again  revived  and  revealed  with  anything  like 
an  earnest  effort  to  peer  into  the  mystery  of  Godli- 
ness with  an  attempt  to  draw  its  secrets  to  the  surface 
of  the  world's  lifestream  which  had  been  muddled 
and  puddled  for  a  thousand  years.  Futile  attempts 
had  been  made  to  emancipate  the  mind  of  man  from 
the  thalldom  of  traditional  error.  The  world  was 
seemingly  ripe  for  a  great  philosophic  movement, 
and  was  standing  on  tiptoe  of  anxiety  and  expectation 
to  see  the  star  of  hope  twinkling  above  the  hazy  hori- 
zon of  a  new  Bethlehem. 

In  North  America,  Jonathan  Edwards  and  others 
stirred  the  philosophic  pool  into  such  a  seething  con- 
dition that  even  the  head  of  New  England  Puri- 
tanism began  to  reel  with  sheer  dizziness  in  its  conges- 


118  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

tion  of  speculative  thought,  and  the  chalky  formation 
of  Plymouth  Rock  began  to  crumble  into  the  sea. 

In  old  England,  theology,  under  the  reign  of 
empirical  philosophy,  together  with  the  skepticism  of 
Hume,  and  the  infidelity  of  Gibbon  and  Bolingbroke, 
helped  to  bring  out  the  tractarian  movement  and  ripen 
the  crisis,  until  Dr.  Newman,  representing  a  large 
sentment,  wrote  the  popular  funeral  march:  ''Lead 
kindly  light,  the  night  is  dark,  and  we  are  far  from 
home."  That  vague,  yet  persistent  yearning  of  the 
human  heart  which  is  always  seeking  redress  from 
the  miseries  of  disquietude  continued  to  become  more 
intense  in  the  proportion  that  the  head  became  con- 
gested and  bemuddled  with  semi-Christian  religious- 
ness. 

In  Germany  there  was,  if  possible,  more  intense 
restlessness,  especially  among  the  scholarly  classes  of 
people.  The  questionable  monads  of  Leibnitz,  the  pan- 
theistic price  which  Spinoza  was  willing  to  pay  for 
the  theoretic  overthrow  of  the  old  heresy  of  Dualism 
led  on  to  the  plausible  yet  untenable  position  of  Wolf 
and  ripened  the  field  of  rationalistic  and  dogmatic 
darnell  until  Schleiermacher  appeared  upon  the  stage. 
As  that  great  philosopher  and  theologian  stepped  to 
the  front  of  the  flickering  footlights,  he  reflected  the 
incipieucy  of  a  radically  new  apprehension  of  the  truth 
whose  goings  forth  had  been  of  old  and  from  ever- 
lasting. It  was  the  coming  of  a  new  system  of  relig- 
ious thinking  for  the  church  and  for  the  world.  He  pro- 
claimed no  new  light  for  the  dispersion  of  the  world's 
moral  and  mental  darkness,  but  announced  a  new 
apprehension  of  the  old  Sun  of  righteousness  with 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  119 

a  more  i^hilosophic  healing  in  his  wings.  His  religious 
philosophy,  as  seen  from  the  viewpoint  of. some  of  his 
disciples,  was  incarnated  in  an  organic  constitution 
of  divine-human  life  and  truth  centering  in  and 
coming  from  the  person  of  Christ,  unfolding  itself 
in  a  historic  way  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  conserve 
all  that  is  valuable  in  the  past,  vital  in  the  present  and 
essential  to  the  victorious  completion  of  the  great 
mystery  of  Godliness,  to  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
redemption  of  fallen  man. 

The  secret  of  Schleiermacher's  success  in  awak- 
ening the  most  vigorous  thought  of  which  the  w^orld 
is  capable  in  two  Christian  continents,  and  in  gather- 
ing disciples  around  his  newly  erected  theological 
standard  was  in  the  fact  that  he,  more  than  any 
philosopher  going  before  him,  combined  the  outer 
observances  of  his  philosophical  investigations  with 
the  testimony  of  his  inner  psychological  consciousness 
of  the  truth  of  the  system  which  he  announced  to  the 
world.  In  his  wonderful  constitution  the  subjective 
and  the  objective  were  counterparts  in  harmonious 
action.  The  experimental  religious  feeling  of  his  re- 
generated soul  moved  forward  on  a  line  parallel  wdth 
the  deductive  activitj'  of  his  scientific  reasoning,  the 
facts  of  history  and  the  observed  phenomena  of  the 
external  world  until  the  two  were  justified  and  glo- 
rified together  in  the  most  incisive  system  of  theolog- 
ical thought  ever  wrought  out  in  the  laboratory  of 
a  gigantic  brain,  and  projected  out  upon  the  world. 
Because  he  was  fully  convinced  and  alive  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  Christian  transformation  by  "the 
renewing  of  his  mind"  he  was  able  to  so  receive  the 


120  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  • 

evidence  of  the  outer  court  in  the  case  as  "to  prove 
what  is  that  good  and  perfect  and  acceptable  will  of 
God"  as  revealed  in  the  panoramic  onflow  of  the 
outer  world's  great  history.  Thus  it  was  that  the 
Spirit  of  God,  speaking  through  the  Bible  and  the 
right  understanding  of  history,  bare  such  testimony 
to  his  spirit  as  to  make  him  a  giant  and  a  leader 
among  all  the  religious  philosophers  of  Germany,  and 
^  pioneer  in  a  Christocentric  system  of  thought  that 
will  help  to  mold  the  religious  faith  of  the  world 
until  the  leaves  of  the  judgement-book  unfold. 

The  logic  of  Schleiermacher  starts  with  the  assump- 
tion that  history  is  a  divine  force  in  concrete  form, 
whose  voice  is  heard  and  heeded  by  all  who  are  in 
real  earnest  in  their  efforts  to  know  the  will  and  the 
way  of  God  in  the  onflow  of  the  world.  His  reasoning 
starts  with  a  sound  Christology  and  continues  in  a 
sane  Ecclesiology.  If  history  is  God's  way  in  the 
world,  church-history  is  Christ's  manner  of  manifest- 
ing his  life  and  revealing  the  truth  "throughout  all 
ages,  world  without  end."  His  idea  of  the  church 
seems  to  have  been  not  entirely  dissimilar  from  the 
view  of  the  New  Jerusalem  described  by  St.  John  as 
"coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven."  She  that 
descends  is  also  the  same  that  ascends,  or  progresses 
toward  the  ultimate  goal  of  her  mission  and  the 
development  of  her  real  character,  until  the  coming 
of  the  Bridegroom.  This  view  was  taken  up  and  dis- 
cussed, seventy  years  ago,  by  Dr.  Philip  Schaff  and 
others  as  Historic  Development,  peculiar  to  the  true 
genuis,  distinguishing  feature  and  manifest  mission 
of  Protestantism,  as  over  against  the  Romish  concep- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  121 

tion  of  the  church  and  the  finished  ecclesiology  of 
Puritanism.  Historic  development  of  the  church 
means  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  fact  that  she 
unfolds  herself  in  the  world  in  a  manner  peculiar  to 
the  order  of  life  which  she  received  from  her  divine 
Head  and  by  which  she  is  animated  and  actuated  in 
performing  her  central  part  in  carrying  out  the  plan 
of  the  ages.  It  means  ecclesiastical  evolution  and 
something  very  different,  not  only  from  Sweden- 
borg's  conception  of  his  New  Jerusalem  church,  but 
also  an  evolution  different  from  that  of  Darwin's 
beautiful  scientific  rdream,  in  which  he  started  with 
a  tadpole,  continued  from  natural  selection  and  ended 
at  a  terminal  point  of  uncertainty. 

The  foregoing  paragraph  indicates  in  only  a  gen- 
eral way  the  position  of  the  German  theologian,  the 
central  principle  of  his  system,  the  logical  trend  of 
his  reasoning  and  the  conclusions  reached  in  the  ap- 
plication made  of  his  Christological  postulate.  His 
announced  tenets  of  rational  faith  and  their  vigorous 
advocacy  along  a  radically  new  line  of  defense  made 
him  popular  with  scholarly  orthodoxy,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  he  was  suspected  of  being  tinctured 
with  some  disguised  sentiments  of  Spinozian  pan- 
theism, and  with  unwarranted  tinkering  with  the  old 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  formulated  in  the  Nicean 
age.  Yet  such  was  the  character  as  a  man,  his  repu- 
tation as  a  Christian  and  his  high  standing  as  a 
scholarly  investigator  in  search  for  the  truth,  that 
the  announced  philosophy  of  his  Christology  and  eccle- 
siology caused  the  broad  mantle  of  charity  to  be 
thrown  over  a  multitude  of  his  theoretical  sins. 


122  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  , 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  analyze  Scheiermacher's  new 
cast  of  theology  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  the  organic 
and  logical  relation  of  each  part  to  each  other  and  to 
the  whole  as  it  is  to  mention  some  or  all  of  its 
several  parts.  Standing  out,  prominently,  and  under 
emphasis,  he  claimed  that  Christianity,  as  to  its  most 
essential  substance,  is  life — not  a  mere  perfected 
human  life,  neither  a  life  made  divine  by  development 
or  ethical  refinement,  but  rather  a  divine-human  order 
of  life  with  its  fountain-head  in  the  incarnate  Logos, 
the  Christ,  and  its  onflow  in  the  church  which  is  His 
mystical  body,  and  the  embodiment  of  His  kingdom 
in  the  world — that  Christianity  perpetuates  itself  in 
the  world  to  the  end  of  time  by  virtue  of  the  fact 
that  it  flows  perennially  from  and  is  kept  constantly 
in  organic  touch  with  Christ  as  the  deathless  source 
of  power  to  perpetuate  itself  in  the  world  and  with- 
stand the  gates  of  hell — that  this  vital  connection  is 
not  primarily  through  doctrine  held  and  heralded  in 
an  abstract  or  promulgatory  way,  but  through  substan- 
tial life  and  grace  and  truth  as  an  essence  absolutely 
inseparable  from  the  being  of  God  himself — concretely 
subsistent  and  persistent  to  the  goal  of  its  mission — 
that  Christianity  in  its  proper  Protestant  form  is 
historic  in  its  development,  both  as  to  the  inner  life  of 
the  Christian  individual  and  its  outerworld  progess 
in  the  course  of  time.  Thus  Scheiermacher's  philos- 
ophic theology,  like  Luther's  part  in  the  great  Reform- 
ation movement  of  the  sixteenth  century,  began  and 
wrought  itself  out  largely  in  his  own  personal  exper- 
ience. Hence  the  stress  laid  upon  the  subjective 
or  inner  life  of  the  Christian.     His  sense  of  experi- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  123 

mental  religion  was,  however,  something  else  and  more 
than  an  experimential  gush  and  rush  of  mere  feeling ; 
neither  did  it  consist  in  throwing  an  inkstand  at  an 
imaginary  devil.  His  piety  was  experimental  without 
being  empirical  and  mystical  without  being  magical. 
His  idea  of  religious  growth,  whether  in  its  microcosm 
or  macrocosm,  was  that  the  enlargement  was  acquired, 
not  so  much  by  accretion  as  by  evolution,  not  so  much 
by  aggression  as  by  progression. 

This  philosophy  of  the  church  was  brought  to 
America  by  Dr.  Agustus  Rouch  and  Dr.  Philip  Schaff , 
about  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  planted  in 
American  soil  and  cultivated  under  the  name  of 
Mercerburg  Theology.  Dr.  John  Williamson  Nevin 
was  among  the  first  to  welcome  it  to  our  shores  and 
echo  it  out  toward  the  many  points  of  the  Puritanic 
and  traditional  points  of  the  compass.  Under  his  lead- 
ership such  men  as  Gerhart,  Higbee,  Moses  Kieff er  and 
Dr.  Thomas  G.  Appel  fostered  the  principle  and  favor- 
ed the  movement  until  much  of  the  current  ecelesiology 
of  the  country  had  been  transformed  by  its  renewing 
power,  and  started  forward  in  a  new  trend  of  thought 
among  the  open-minded  theologians  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  There  were  giants  in  those  days.  Where 
now  are  the  ministers  to  wear  their  mantles  with 
shoulders  broad  enough  to  keep  the  wrinkles  out? 

Young  Gentlemen  of  the  Seminary :  You  are  now 
within  the  walls  that  still  echo  to  their  mighty  tread. 
What  an  incentive  you  have  to  expand  your  Christ- 
ological  lungs  and  your  ecclesiological  chests !  May 
the  expansion  be  commensurate  wdth  the  responsibil- 
ities that  are  about  to  settle  down  on  you  in  your 


124  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

battling  for  the  truth.  The  philosophy  of  the  church 
question  has  not  yet  been  glorified  in  its  final  settle- 
ment. It  is  still  calling  for  stalwart  consideration 
and  full  solution.  It  is  only  the  philosophic  solution 
of  this  problem  in  the  light  of  the  evangelical  truth 
that  can  eliminate  from  many  of  our  religious  en- 
tanglements the  contradictions  and  incongruities  that 
are  now  keeping  the  millennial  dawn  in  the  distant  fut- 
ure. Such  solution  will  show  that  there  is  no  less  neces- 
ity  for  the  transforming  creeds  into  deeds  than  there  is 
for  logical  development  of  the  root  principle  of  evan- 
gelical truth  until  the  vital  embryonic  substance  there- 
of passes  on  and  up  through  the  unfolding  of  the  plant, 
to  the  full  ripe  corn  in  the  ear  at  the  last  harvest  day. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  125 


LECTURE  IX    . 

The  Ideal  Preacher  ^s  Sermonic  Use  of  Divine 
Revelation 

Lecture  VIII  treated  of  the  philosophic  element  in 
the  sermon.  It  was  shown  that  the  great  Prince  of 
Preachers  challenged  and  taught  and  encouraged  men 
to  think;  that  St.  John,  the  apostle  of  love,  as  a  bird 
with  pinions  fleet  and  plumage  fair,  soared  beyond 
the  ordinary  flights  of  prophetic  vision,  and  that  St. 
Paul,  the  philosopher  of  faith,  wove  many  golden 
threads  of  philosophic  thought  into  the  fine  fabrics 
of  his  truly  evangelical  epistles  and  sermons;  that 
though  the  early  Christian  ministers  laid  compar- 
itively  little  stress  upon  the  importance  of  rational 
inquiry  into  the  nature  of  divine  things,  it  was  largely 
because  they  were  measurably  absorbed  in  brotherly 
affection;  that  not  until  heretics  began  to  assail  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  as  set  forth  in  the  inspired 
manuscripts  and  as  received  through  tradition,  did 
the  primitive  Christians  begin  to  teach  themselves 
and  others  to  do  some  profound  thinking  in  matters 
involved  in  religion;  that  before  the  days  of  Justin 
Martyr  the  rising  science  of  theology  played  a  compar- 
tively  small  part  upon  the  ante-Nicean  stage;  that 
starting  properly  with  Justin,  it  reached  the  zenith 
of  its  inquiry  and  combative  power  in  the  full  per- 
sonal consecration,  nervous  vigor,  indomitable  energy 
and  ardent  rhetoric  of  Athanasius;  that  when  the 
ancient  creeds  began  to  embalm  themselves  in  relig- 


126  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ious  decadency,  and  when  Mohammedanism  arose 
in  the  Orient,  the  carnal  ambition  of  the  popes  began 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  lull  of  the  incoming  age 
of  ecclesiactical  darkness  and  the  rise  of  didactive 
scholasticism;  that  with  the  rise  of  the  renaissance 
in  the  fifteenth  century  and  the  dawn  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  there 
was  such  a  revival  of  earnest  inquiry  into  the  nature 
of  things  ethical  and  divine  as  to  carry  the  movement 
so  far  afield  as  to  awaken  in  the  fallen  human  intel- 
lect and  a  settling  back  into  Prostant  traditionlism 
of  the  two  succeeding  centuries  a  false  freedom  little 
better  than  that  which  had  clogged  the  wheels  of 
the  church's  progress  during  the  Mediaeval  period 
of  her  history;  and  from  which  she  had  sought  to 
emancipate  herself  in  the  Reformation;  that  the  real 
beginning  of  such  ecclesiastical  emancipation  was 
started  by  Schleiermacher  when  he  proclaimed  and 
emphasized  the  fact  that  the  incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God  brought  a  new  order  of  life  into  the  organism 
of  humanity — an  order  of  supernatural  and  viviiic 
power  which  is  destined  to  work  itself  out  in  the 
church  by  continuous  historic  development,  until  all 
that  is  germinal  in  Christianity  has  fully  unfolded 
itself,  and  all  that  is  assimilable  in  the  human  race  is 
so  leavened  as  to  be  saved  from  sin  and  lifted  up 
to  be  glorified  in  the  heavenly  realm. 

While  it  is  important  that  the  philosophy  or 
reasonableness  of  things  should  appear  in  the  sermon 
and  be  made  transiparent  to  the  audience,  the  ideal 
or  truly  evangelical  preacher  will  always  bear  in  mind 
that  it  is  more  important  to  have  the  sermon  well 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  127 

buttressed  with  the  direct  teachings  of  God's  word, 
which  is  "perfect,  converting  the  soul,  and  pure, 
making  wise  the  simple."  The  revealed  word  of  God 
is  the  authorized  word  of  prophecy  whereunto  both 
the  pulpit  and  the  pew  do  well  to  take  heed  as  unto 
the  light  of  a  lamp  let  down  from  heaven  to  shine 
upon  the  straight  and  narrow  path  of  pilgrims  to 
their  home  above  the  stars.  There  is  a  great  difference 
between  the  teachings  of  God's  oracles  and  the  best 
philosophic  abstract  utterness  of  learned  mortals.  One 
ounce  of  divine  verbal  authority  is  worth  a  pound 
of  stammering  from  the  most  eloquent  of  human 
tongues.  The  word  of  God  is  always  mightier  than 
any  two-edged  sword.  It  caused  the  turbulent  stream 
of  Palestine  to  roll  back  and  pile  its  waters  high  above 
the  fords  of  Jordan,  before  the  omnipotent  Shekinah 
of  the  tabernacle  as  the  emblem  or  symbol  of  Jehovah's 
presence  and  power  was  borne  by  the  priests  across  to 
the  Promise-land.  Deposisted  in  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenent  it  blessed  the  house  of  Obededom,  and  caused 
the  inconsiderate  Uzzah  to  expire  as  a  penalty  for 
his  unintentional  sacrilege  before  its  offended  majesty. 
"By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made, 
and  all  the  hosts  of  them  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth, ' ' 
and  by  the  same  word  is  the  earth  to  be  remade  and 
all  the  assimilable  inhabitants  thereupon. 

The  prophtes  of  old  derived  their  message  and 
delivered  them  to  the  people  intermixed  with  many 
a  "thus  saith  the  Lord,"  even  before  these  divinely 
authoritative  sayings  were  committed  to  manuscripts, 
sealed  up  in  the  scroll  of  the  book,  stored  away  in 
the  ark  of  the  testimony  and  placed  under  the  out- 


128  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

spread  wings  of  the  cherubim.  The  apostolic  preachers 
enriched  and  enforced  their  doctrinal  and  hortatory 
addresses  to  their  readers  and  hearers  with  many  a 
"thus  it  is  written."  St.  Paul  never  grew  tired  in 
his  frequent  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament 
writings  and  in  applying  them  for  the  strengthening 
of  his  New  Testament  position.  The  other  inspired 
evangelists  buttressed  their  sermonic  work  as  they 
kindled  the  fires  of  their  daily  sacrifices  with  a  live 
coal  from  the  heavenly  altar.  The  altars  themselves 
were  always  built  with  lively  stones  quarried  from 
the  Rock  of  Ages.  And  the  many  valuable  books 
of  Christian  homilies  from  the  pens  of  the  world's 
greatest  preachers  ever  since  the  dawn  of  Christianity, 
and  now  found  in  our  religious  libraries,  are  in 
evidence  that  those  immortal  ministers  knew  the 
source  of  their  effiicieney  and  the  secret  of  their  success 
to  be  in  the  revealed  and  written  word  of  God.  When 
this  method  of  evangelizing  the  world  and  confirming 
the  faith  of  the  church  was  departed  from  in  the  dark 
ages,  and  when  in  consequence  of  such  ruinous  de- 
parture there  was  neither  Bible,  sermon  nor  pulpit 
in  the  sanctuary — then  it  was  that 

Nations  either  lost  their  breath 
Or  lingered  in  the  dance  of  death. 

Indeed  the  whole  history  of  the  sacred  rostrum  is 
in  evidence  that  there  was  but  one  preacher  who  could 
get  up  before  an  audience  and  say,  without  good 
reason  to  blush,  "The  words  that  /  speak  unto  you, 
they  are  the  spirit  and  they  are  life."  And  He  was 
the  one  who  "spake  as  never  man  spake."     He  was 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  129 

the  personal  revelation  of  God — the  one  in  whom  dwelt 
all  the  fullness  of  the  God-head  bodily,  and  in  whom 
were  hidden  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge. Yet  even  he  had  such  high  appreciation  of 
what  had  been  authoritatively  revealed  before  his 
coming  into  the  world  that  he  chose  to  confirm  his 
own  unimpeachable  sayings  with  numerous  references 
to  and  quotations  from  the  prophetic  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  from  the  law  which  he  declared  should 
never  pass  away  only  as  it  passed  up  into  a  higher 
form  of  progressive  revelation  to  be  completed  at  the 
goal  of  human  history,  and  the  final  restitution  of 
all  things. 

If,  then,  the  prophets,  the  apostles,  inspired  evan- 
gelists and  the  world's  greatest  homilists  grounded 
their  messages  and  pulpit  efforts  in  the  rock  of  author- 
itative truth  revealed  from  heaven,  how  much  more 
should  the  preachers  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  ages 
have  come,  feel  the  importance  of  equipping  them- 
selves from  the  same  ' '  armory  of  David  in  which  there 
hang  a  thousand  bucklers,  all  shields  of  mighty  men." 

When  the  Spirit  called  up  the  prophet  and  qual- 
ified him  to  preach  in  the  Babylon  of  his  age,  the  obe- 
dient old  seer  ''heard  the  voice  behind  him"  saying 
"Blessed  be  the  glory  of  the  Lord  from  his  place" 
(Ezekiel  3 :  12) .  It  was  the  voice  from  '^ 'behind  him" 
that  gave  the  prophet  authority  and  encouragement 
in  the  execution  of  his  important  mission.  Supported 
by  the  consciousness  that  he  was  to  be  sustained  by  a 
powder  behind  the  throne,  he  delivered  his  heaven-given 
message  to  th  people  before  him,  and  for  the  benefit 

9 


130  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

of  all  the  ages  yet  to  come  and  roll  away  in  one  con- 
tinuous onflow  of  historic  revelation.  And  every  ideal 
preacher  of  the  one  great  glorious  gospel  of  God's 
good  will  to  men  may  regard  himself  as  an  organic 
link  in  the  one  continuous  chain  or  medium  through 
which  the  revelation  of  the  divine  will  is  being  made 
to  man,  reaching  from  the  closing  of  the  garden  gate 
of  Eden  to  the  final  opening  of  the  pearly  gates  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  which  is  now  "coming  down 
from  God  out  of  heaven"  to  meet  "the  ransomed  of 
the  Lord"  in  their  triumphal  ingression  through  the 
everlasting  doors. 

This  view  of  the  sufficient  authority  of  the  Bible 
for  the  purpose  it  was  intended  to  serve  at  the 
beginning  and  in  the  formative  ages  of  the  church, 
with  a  revelation  which  is  now  being  continued  on  to 
the  end  of  all  the  ages  is  not  one  that  would  make 
void  the  law  and  discount  the  prophecies  of  old.  It 
rather  magnifies  the  Messiaship  and  mission  of  Him 
of  whom  ]\Ioses,  in  the  law,  and  the  prophets  did 
write.  It  also  properly  magnifies  the  office  of  the 
Christian  minister  by  viewing  him  in  his  proper  rela- 
tion to  the  continuity  of  apostolic  succession,  or  rather 
procession,  which  is  designed  by  Christ  to  carry  for- 
ward the  purposes  of  his  grace  and  truth  upon  the 
earth  to  the  end  of  time. 

Indeed,  what  is  revelation,  whether  in  its  special 
form  by  law  and  prophecy  and  gospel,  or  by  its  uncon- 
scious and  quiet  enunciations  in  nature,  but  one  his- 
toric syllogism  of  concrete  argument  in  which  God 
is  always  reasoning  with  man  to  hear  and  heed  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  131 

divine  voice,  to  the  end  that  he  may  be  glorified  in 
his  own  image,  and  that  man,  the  likeness  of  liis 
Maker  may  be  redeemed,  completed  and  happified 
in  the  true  knowledge  of  his  divine  original;  and 
that  thus  "in  the  dispensation  of  the  fullness  of  the 
times  God  might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in 
Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on 
earth. ' '  This  reasoning  grounds  itself  in  the  assump- 
tion that  the  divine  and  the  human  belong  together, 
and  that  the  two  are  so  correlated  as  to  be  inseparable 
in  the  one  eternal  purpose,  "according  to  the  good 
pleasure  which  he  hath  purposed  in  himself."  Thus 
starting  in  the  sound  premises  of  the  past,  the  logic 
of  the  divine  purpose  and  plan  of  the  ages  moves 
forward  through  all  the  major  and  minor  proposi- 
tions of  the  one  living  Syllogism  of  all  time  until 
its  final  conclusion  is  reached  at  the  end  of  "the  path 
of  the  just  which  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the 
perfect  day." 

The  ideal  preacher's  attitude  in  addressing  an  au- 
dience from  the  pulpit  in  the  church  or  from  any 
other  public  platform  is  not  essentially  dissimilar  at 
every  point  from  the  attitude  of  the  barrister  in  ad- 
dressing the  jury  in  court.  As  an  attorney  at  law,  in 
addressing  the  jurymen  whom  he  expects  to  move  into 
favor  with  his  client,  or  before  whom  he  expects  to 
vindicate  the  majesty  of  the  law,  prefaces  his  plead- 
ings with  those  carefully  selected  sections  of  the  stat- 
utes necessary  to  fortify  his  position  and  justify  the 
assumed  righteousness  of  his  pleadings  in  the  case, 
so  does  the  minister,  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ, 
while  pleading  with  an  alien  world  to  become  recon- 


132  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ciled  to  God,  buttress  his  position,  not  merely  by  his 
annunciation  of  a  single  text,  but  by  a  number  of 
carefully  chosen  passages  or  sections  or  selections  from 
the  book  of  the  record  of  divine  revelation.  This 
he  does  that  his  audience  may  be  made  to  feel  that 
his  message  is  from  God,  and  that  for  them  the  path 
of  obedience  is  the  only  way  of  safety  and  full  sal- 
vation. Without  such  recognition  of  divine  author- 
ity uttering  its  voice  through  the  sermon,  the  human 
heart  will  not  be  pierced  with  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
neither  will  the  human  mind  be  so  swayed  by  a  truly 
evangelical  power  as  to  move  the  ^vill  to  choose  God 
as  the  supreme  good,  and  obedience  to  his  mandates 
as  man's  most  reasonable  service.  All  other  pulpit 
efforts  must  prove  to  be  abortive.  Mere  intellec- 
tualism  and  culture  have  no  power  to  open  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  Mere  pulpit  sensationalism  has 
nothing  but  a  placebo  for  moral  invalids.  Scientific, 
philosophic  and  socialistic  harangues,  unmixed  with 
God's  Avord,  have  no  potency,  to  translate  an  audience 
into  the  realm  of  the  Spirit.  The  tongue  of  mere 
human  oratory,  though  baptized  with  the  flow  of  com- 
manding eloquence,  cannot  move  the  people  from  their 
foundation  of  self-sufficiency  and  sinking  sand,  and 
place  them  upon  the  everlasting  Rock  of  Ages. 

Therefore,  Young  Gentlemen, 

Go  teach  the  law  to  Adam's  race, 
Till  man  shall  own  it  just  and  good, 
Then  sound  the  messages  of  grace. 
Sealed  with  the  sacraments  of  blood, 

Thus  raise  Immanuel's  banner  high, 

Till  all  enlist  and  "do  or  die." 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  133 

Let  Calvary's  suffering-  Prince  be  shown 
In  Bozrah's  garments  dyed  in  blood, 
Until  an  alien  world  shall  own 
The  Christ  who  reconciles  to  God : 
In  His  great  name,  by  His  great  might 
Dethrone  the  wrong,  enthrone  the  right. 

In  announcing  his  text,  if  indeed  it  be  necessary 
for  him  to  have  a  text  in  order  to  deliver  a  message 
from  God,  and  in  quoting  passages  of  scripture  as 
sources  of  his  authority,  it  is  not  usually  considered 
wise  and  prudent  to  advertise  that  such  scripture 
passages  are  susceptible  of  different  or  opposite  trans- 
lations or  interpretations.  Such  a  questionable  preface 
does  not  prepare  the  audience  to  receive  with  benfit, 
the  w^ord  of  God  which  is  "forever  settled  in  the 
heavens."  While  such  a  course  may  be  proper  and 
of  imperative  necessity  among  expert  exegetes  and  in 
our  theological  seminaries,  it  can  not,  as  a  rule,  have 
any  other  effect  upon  the  unlearned  and  skeptical 
parts  of  the  audience  than  to  encourage  doubt  and 
unsettle  a  wavering  faith.  Commonly  no  result  can 
follow  such  pulpit  exploits  in  superficial  exegesis 
except  to  display  the  preacher's  linguistic  pride,  and 
his  agility  in  pulpit  polemics.  Let  the  preacher  rather 
follow  his  enunciation  of  scripture  passages  if  they 
involve  mooted  points  of  meaning,  by  the  incontro- 
versial  statement  as  to  how  the  sections  thus  quoted 
have  been  rendered  and  long  since  settled  in  the  ecu- 
menical creeds  of  past  ages,  and  as  now  held  in  the 
general  concensus  of  the  combined  judgment  of  a 
progressive  Christendom.  This  course  he  would  be 
justified  in  taking,  because  it  is  the  prerogative  of  the 


134  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Holy  Catholic  Church,  as  the  supreme  court,  to  render 
the  meaning  of  scripture  in  all  moot  cases. 

In  following  this  course,  the  preacher  aims  to 
avoid  unprofitable  controversy,  seeks  to  have  his 
hearers  apprehend  the  truth  in  the  light  of  past  and 
progressive  wisdom,  keeps  himself  in  the  communion 
and  fellowship  with  all  saints,  strives  for  a  greater 
unity  of  faith  until  we  all  come  to  comprehend  with 
all  believers  what  is  the  fair  and  full  meaning  of 
the  mighty  mystery  now  being  revealed  in  the  unfold- 
ing of  the  cycles  of  time.  Furthermore,  in  so  doing, 
the  preacher  proceeds  along  a  line  parallel  with  what 
is  the  established  order  in  the  administration  of  just- 
ice under  civil  law  since  the  time  of  Runneymede. 
The  attorney  at  law  does  not  rest  his  case  upon  his 
own  private  interpretation  of  the  statutes  as  quoted, 
but  points  to  the  decision  and  rendering  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  commonwealth  in  some  case  similar  to 
the  one  then  being  heard  and  laid  before  the  jury. 
The  barrister  by  himself  with  the  case  in  hand  on 
behalf  of  his  client,  is  not  to  interpret  the  law  to 
settle  a  disputeed  point,  the  jury  is  confined  to  the 
evidence  in  the  case,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  has  had 
his  lips  sealed  by  the  charge  laid  against  him  in  the 
indictment.  It  therefore  remains  for  the  judge  to 
interpret  the  law  pointed  out  or  cited  by  the  attorney, 
and  even  his  decision  is  subject  to  being  overruled 
by  an  appellate  or  superior  court.  So,  even  more  so, 
is  it  in  settling  a  mooted  point  in  scripture.  No  such 
scripture  is  for  private  interpretation  as  to  the  finality 
of  its  rendering.  It  is  subject  to  the  proper  expression 
of  judgment  by  the  highest  court  of  Christendom  as 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  135 

rendered  by  the  ecumenical  creeds  of  the  past,  and 
even  such  rendering-  is  subject  to  a  progressive  inter- 
pretation of  a  progressive  revelation  in  a  progressive 
cliurch. 

In  mooted  cases  the  preacher  does  not  enter  the 
polemical  arena  to  match  his  private  judgment  against 
that  of  the  individual  members  of  his  audience  as 
though  they  had  fully  surrendered  to  the  priest  their 
evangelical  right  to  read  the  word  of  God  for  them- 
selves. No;  like  the  Christians  at  Berea,  they  still 
retain  their  nobility  in  the  privilege  which  is  theirs 
by  common  inheritance,  to  search  the  scriptures  daily. 
In  plunging  his  pulpit  into  the  disputations  of  such 
character,  the  minister  Avould  do  little  more  than  to 
begin  and  prolong  unprofitable  wrangling  and  endless 
controversy.  With  his  enunciation  of  mooted  scriptures 
to  support  his  position,  he  follows  up  his  ' '  Thus  saith 
the  Lord"  with  a  "thus  saith  the  church"  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  passage  or  section  quoted  and  applied. 
Away  with  all  pulpit  polemics  over  such  points !  If 
skeptical  men  will  not  hear  the  word  of  God  and  what 
the  Spirit  hath  said  and  is  now  saying  unto  the 
churches,  let  them,  as  in  a  case  of  trespassing  against 
their  brethren,  be  as  heathen  and  'publicans  (Matt. 
18:17).  The  preacher  has  no  authority  under  his 
apostolic  commission  or  otherwise,  to  impose  his 
private  judgment  against  the  private  judgment  of 
other  individuals  in  different  and  mooted  points,  even 
though  he  be  thoroughly  versed  in  all  those  branches 
of  Christian  learning  crystalized  in  Philology,  Exeget- 
ics,  Hermeneutics  and  Homiletics. 


136  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  ^ 

If  homiletics  has  any  more  important  mission  than 
to  keep  the  preacher  out  of  trouble  in  his  sermons, 
it  is  to  help  him  to  hold  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment scriptures  in  such  proper  relation  with  each 
other  and  to  the  revelation  from  God  to  man,  of  which 
the  Bible  is  the  authenticated  record,  in  the  contin- 
uous or  supplemental  revelation  now  being  made  in 
the  way  of  a  future  historic  development  in  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church.  This  can  be  done  only  as  they,  in 
one  organic  whole,  are  held  in  proper  relation  to 
Jesus  Christ.  If  he,  as  he  announced  himself,  hath 
the  keys  of  death  and  hell,  much  more  hath  he  the 
key  that  unlocks  the  mystery  of  life  and  heaven. 
"AVithout  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  He  is  the  end  of 
the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  who  believeth, 
the  fulfillment  of  all  that  the  prophets  did  write, 
and  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  of  the  whole  Christian 
alphabet  with  all  its  vowels  and  consonants.  He 
speaks  through  the  entire  volume  of  the  scroll  as  it 
began  to  unseal  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  as 
it  is  now  still  being  unrolled  to  the  last  cycle  of  time. 
As  of  old,  he  is  still  saying,  "Lo  I  come  to  do  or  reveal 
thy  will,  Oh,  God." 

This  great  revealer  of  God  to  men  is  the  archetype 
of  the  ideal  Christian  sermon.  As  he  combined  in 
his  person  the  key  that  gives  the  solution  of  the  rela- 
tion between  the  divine  and  human,  as  the  Church, 
his  body  has  both  a  divine  and  a  human  side,  as  the 
Bible  contains  both  divine  and  human  elements, 
and  as  the  sacraments  are  constituted  of  divine  and 
human  factors,  so  is  the  sermon  both  defective  and 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  137 

incomplete  until  it  holds  all  of  the  first  principles 
and  parts  of  our  holy  religion  in  right  relation  to  each 
other  and  to  the  purpose  they  are  designed  to  serve. 
The  sermon  of  a  real  master-builder  in  the  up- 
going  temples  and  on-going  revelation  of  the  Lord 
is  not  a  mere  throwing  together  of  a  collection  of 
revealed  facts  and  religious  truths  delivered  in  a 
seemingly  harmonious  order.  Its  parts  are  not  mech- 
anically and  outwardly  related,  like  a  basket  of  chips, 
but  organically  interrelated  and  interwoven  in  such 
a  way  as  to  constitute  one  living  and  life-giving  whole, 
compacted  together  by  that  spiritual  synovia  which 
every  joint  supplieth,  in  such  manner  as  to  make  it 
the  utterance  of  a  heaven-appointed  oracle  and  a 
quickening  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  pre- 
pare ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  his  paths  straight 
— even  the  voice  of  the  one  whose  shoe's  latchet  the 
minister,  by  comparison  with  whom,  is  not  worthy  to 
untie.  ''For  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit 
of  the  Father,  he  speaketh  in  you  and  through  you." 
(John  10:20).  And  yet,  while  it  is  true  that  the 
Spirit,  as  the  giver  of  life  and  the  source  of  authority 
and  efficiency,  speaks  in  and  through  the  minister, 
it  is  equally  true  that  the  minister  also  speaks  as  an 
ambassadorial  medium  of  conduction  of  truth  and 
authority  to  those  who  are  addressed  in  the  heavenly 
message.  To  do  this  the  minister  must  not  only  be, 
but  also  feel  himself  to  be  so  charged  and  permeated 
with  heavenly  powers  as  to  cause  his  whole  consecrated 
being  to  thrill  with  a  vivid  sense  of  his  divine  commis- 
sion.    The  Christian  pulpit  calls  for  powder  behind 


138  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

the  projectile,  holy  vim  and  vigor  behind  the  voice 
and  a  man  of  God  behind  the  gospel  gun.  When  such 
is  the  case,  and  when  the  minister  himself  becomes 
personally  absorbed  in  the  sermon,  and  so  absorbs 
the  sermon  in  himself  as  to  be  able  to  electrify  his 
audience  with  a  charge  of  heavenly  dynamic,  then 
may  he  feel  the  corresponding  vibration  that  echoes 
back  the  minstrelsy  in  the  choir-loft  of  the  upper 
sanctuary. 

The  foregoing  is  not  intended  to  imply  that  the 
union  of  the  divine  and  human  factors  should  be 
united  or  fused  in  the  sense  of  the  Eutichian  heresy, 
condemned  at  Ephesus  in  431.  It  was  rather  intended 
to  avoid  the  Nestorian  heresy  placed  under  similar 
ecclesiastical  ban  in  451  at  Chalcedon.  and  yet 
Nestorianism  is  still  alive.  In  too  many  pulpits  the 
minister  and  the  message  are  held  too  far  apart.  If 
either  one  should  be  affected  with  a  dangerous  disease, 
the  other  would  not  need  to  be  segregated  out  of 
quarantine  to  be  immune.  There  should  be  more 
coalescence  between  the  two  without  destroying  the 
identity  of  either.  What  God  hath  joined  together 
should  not  be  put  asunder.  The  preacher  and  his 
message  are  inseparable  in  the  ideal  pulpit.  Without 
a  living  man  behind  the  message  and  within  a  living 
voice  speaking  through  its  delivery  the  sermon  can 
be  little  more  than  a  literary  or  religious  skeleton; 
and  without  a  properly  received  and  prepared  message 
and  a  vital  relation  thereto,  the  preacher  is  but  a  mech- 
anical declaimer  or  perfunctory  playwright. 

Young  Gentlemen :  Take  that  skeleton  out  of  your 
closets,   animate   it   by   bringing   it   into   more   vital 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  139 

touch  with  your  own  more  fully  consecrated  person- 
alities, charged  with  heavenly  dynamics.  Articulate 
the  parts  of  the  grinning  monster,  put  flesh  upon  the 
bones,  arteries  in  the  flesh,  blood  in  the  arteries,  cor- 
puscles in  the  blood,  life  in  the  corpuscles,  power  in 
the  life,  and  the  hope  of  glory  in  the  power,  even 
the  life  and  power  and  glory  of  Mary's  first  born 
Son,  the  eternal  Son  of  God. 

It  may  be  assumed  and  conceded  that  the  eternal 
Word,  the  divine  Logos  spake  at  times  in  and  through 
some  of  the  philosophers ;  yet  it  must  be  tenaciously 
insisted  upon  that  the  old  heathen  sages  never  taught 
as  did  the  man  of  Galilee,  who  spake  as  never  mere 
man  spal^e.  He  was  unique  as  a  teacher  of  the  truth 
because  he  was  and  is  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life. 
Plato  was  opaque  because  his  relation  to  the  eternal 
mind  involved  no  incarnation  of  the  Deity.  Socrates 
the  son  of  Sophroniscus,  lived  and  taught  and  died 
like  a  sage,  but  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Mary,  lived  and 
taught  and  died  as  the  incarnate  God.  Aristotle 
startled  the  world  to  move  in  stalwart  and  logical 
thought,  but  the  wisdom  he  taught  w^as  foolishness 
with  God;  Jesus  preached  in  the  words  that  were 
spirit  and  life  because  his  own  person  w^as  the  mes- 
sianic fountain  of  truth  and  knowledge.  Because  the 
Grecian  philosophers  were  themselves  helplessly  under 
the  power  of  death,  they  could  neither  raise  the  dead 
nor  cause  disease  to  flee  away.  Because  the  life  of 
the  Deity  dwelt  in  the  person  of  Jesus,  his  voice  could 
penetrate  the  realm  of  death  and  cause  its  dolorous 
portals  to  unfold  before  the  sweep  of  his  incarnate 
omnipotence. 


140  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Now,  just  as  there  was  a  difference  between  those 
old  philosophers  and  Jesus  Christ,  as  teachers,  by 
virtue  of  the  dift'erence  between  their  respective  rela- 
tions to  the  doctrines  which  they  proclaimed  and 
aimed  to  propagate,  so  there  is  a  corresponding  differ- 
ence between  the  perfunctory  preacher  who  holds  the 
truth  outside  of  himself,  and  the  truly  unctuous  min- 
ister of  the  Word,  in  whom  the  message  and  the  mess- 
enger are  interrelated  by  the  power  of  a  common 
heavenly  life.  ^Ministers  are  not  Messiahs,  but,  yet, 
as  is  the  heavenly,  such  are  they  also  that  are  heaven- 
ly; ''Christ  first,  afterwards  they  that  are  Christ's" 
at  this  coming;  and  he  is  noAV  coming.  And  greater 
works  than  he  did  shall  ye  be  able  to  do,  because  he 
went  to  the  Father  to  send  a  perpetual  Pentecost  upon 
the  living  and  progressive  church.  When  the  preach- 
er is  fairly  and  lully  alive  to  these  concrete  truths, 
he  is  so  married  to  his  message  as  to  make  the  two 
one  living  flesh.  The  new  wine  is  too  often  poured 
into  old  goat-skins.  Hence  pulpit  declamations  and 
parrot  performances  are  mechanically  substituted  for 
real  living  proclamations  of  the  truth  from  the  heaven- 
ly world. 

When  the  revelator,  St.  John,  was  about  to  be  sent 
from  the  isle  of  Patmos  to  "prophesy  again  before 
many  peoples  and  nations  and  tongues  and  kings," 
the  seventh  angel  gave  him  a  "little  book"  with  the 
command  that  he  should  "eat  it  up."  If  that  com- 
mand indicated  anything,  it  was  that  the  revelation 
which  God  had  given  and  is  continuously  giving  man, 
is  to  be  so  thoroughly  studied  and  digested  by  students 
of  theology  and  preachers  of  the  gospel  as  to  make  it 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  141 

their  own,  and  consequently  so  relished  as  to  become 
as  ''sweet  as  honey"  in  their  evangelical  mouths. 
' '  The  little  book ' '  stands  for  the  revelation  of  which  it 
is  the  inspired  record.  The  revelation  from  God  is 
to  be  so  .studied  as  to  awaken  the  faculty  of  discovery 
on  the  part  of  man,  and  the  truth  so  discovered  is  to 
be  so  received  as  to  carry  all  devout  recipients  for- 
Avard  and  upward  until  they  ''see  light  in  God's 
light."  And  only  when  such  is  the  relation  of  the 
minister  to  ' '  the  little  book ' '  and  the  revelation  which 
he  digests  will  the  preacher's  palate  be  made  satis- 
factory and  successfully  sweet  in  the  preaching  of 
the  everlasting  gospel. 

This  attainment  is  usually  the  fruit  of  great  and 
laborious  effort  on  the  part  of  the  ideal  preacher.  It 
even  caused  great  bitterness  in  the  belly  of  St.  John. 
No  wonder  that  some  theological  students  wish  to 
abbreviate  the  curriculum  of  the  theological  seminary ! 
Just  think  of  the  bitterness — the  mental  agony — expe- 
rienced in  the  declension  of  Latin  nouns,  the  conjuga- 
tion of  Greek  verbs  and  the  digging  outof  Hebrew 
roots.  Just  think  of  the  worm-wood  and  the  gall  in 
the  efforts  necessary  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  an- 
cient philology. 

Perhaps  the  best  digest  of  the  Bible  or  "little 
book ' '  ever  given  to  the  world  was  made  by  the  church 
in  the  fervor  of  her  first  love,  and  in  the  century  or 
more  of  years  between  Nicea  and  Chalcedon.  This  was 
accomplished  in  the  experience  of  polemical  bitterness 
and  in  conflict  with  Arius  and  Nestorius  and  other 
arch  heretics,  all  of  which  was  wrought  out  in  the 
congested   abdominal  viscera   of  early   Christendom. 


142  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

The  Catholic  creeds  produced  by  such  early  digest 
of  "the  little  book"  are  now  the  proper  subjects  for 
redigestion  when  taken  up  for  re\asion  and  necessarily 
new  phrasings  in  the  old  teachings  of  the  same  ' '  little 
book,"  which  must  ever  be  held  as  the  most  authentic 
oracle,  and  of  -which  those  old  creeds  are  the  best  ap- 
prehension by  the  age  that  gave  them  their  symbolical 
birth.  Indeed  it  is  the  duty  of  and  the  privilege  of 
modern  Christendom,  not  to  repudiate,  but  to  redigest 
the  ancient  creeds  and  reproduce  their  essential  sub- 
stance so  as  to  bring  them  into  greater  harmony  with 
the  more  comprehensive  scope  of  God's  will  to  the 
world,  as  evidenced  in  an  over-growing  revelation  of 
the  divine  mind. 

Now  this  is  the  position  occupied  by  the  ideal 
preacher.  He  modestly  takes  his  place  at  the  foot  of  a 
long  table  at  the  gospel  feast  that  he  may  be  able  to 
"comprehend  with  all  saints"  what  is  the  full  measure 
of  the  mystery  whose  revelation  started  way  back  in 
the  eternal  council-chamber  of  heaven  and  continues 
with  unbroken  historic  continuity  to  the  end  of  time. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  reasonableness  of 
this  position.  Would  a  considerate  earthly  father 
immediately  after  the  birth  of  a  child  attempt  to  reveal 
to  his  offspring  a  knowledge  of,  or  facts  concerning 
its  advent  into  the  world,  its  nature,  its  duty  and 
its  ultimate  destiny,  beyond  the  measure  of  its  capac- 
ity and  necessity?  Would  not  such  a  parent  rather 
deliver  such  knowledge  in  kind  and  in  degree  according 
as  the  child  enlarges  its  capacity  by  growth  beyond 
the  infant  and  adolecent  periods  of  its  life,  and 
advances  into  the  pubertive  period  and  on  to  and 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  143 

through  the  period  of  proper  procreation,  to  that 
point  where  the  power  of  discovery  awakens  with 
a  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  law  and  duty  of  propa- 
gation ?  Thus  these  two  sources  of  information  along 
parallel  lines  of  least  resistance  are  glorified  together 
in  the  full  evolution  of  properly  developed  manhood. 
And  why  should  the  Heavenly  Father  be  less  con- 
siderate in  revealing  himself  to  the  church  which  in 
her  nature  and  mission  is  historic  in  the  unfolding 
of  her  wonderful  constitution?  He  is  not.  ''Like  as 
a  father  pitieth  or  dealeth  with  his  children,"  so  the 
Lord  accomodates  himself  to  the  growing  church  by 
giving  it  a  revelation  on  a  line  parallel  with  its  enlarg- 
ing capacity  for  truth  and  growing  necessity  for 
knowledge. 

Do  we  then  make  void  the  revelation  given  us  in 
the  Law  and  the  gospel  as  recorded  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  Scriptures,  because  forsooth  we  believe 
in  and  teach  a  continued  revelation  running  through 
the  ages,  parallel  with  the  unfolding  of  God's  purpose 
in  the  development  of  the  race  and  the  church  to  the 
end  of  all  ages?  Not  at  all.  And  we  insist  that  in 
such  manner  the  Infinite  Father  of  all  shows  his  con- 
siderate wdsdom,  as  well  as  his  superlative  goodness. 

Assuming  the  correctness  of  the  views  expressed 
in  the  last  foregoing  paragraphs,  it  now  follows  that 
the  proper  and  thorough  study  of  church-history  is 
one  of  the  most  important  parts  in  the  curriculum  of 
our  theological  seminaries.  Church-history  shows  the 
way  of  the  Messiah  in  his  onward  march  to  final  con- 
quest and  consequent  glory.  There  is  more  genuine 
Christology  to  be  learned  in  this  preparatory  part  of 


144  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

the  preacher's  equipment  than  in  all  the  abstract 
doctrines  and  moss  covered  dogmas  of  a  thousand 
years. 

To  be  of  such  beneficial  service,  church-history 
must  be  recognized  and  studied  as  the  manifestation 
of  Christ's  life  in  humanity.  Such  historic  manifesta- 
tion must  be  seen  as  involving,  affecting  and  redeeming 
the  life  of  the  world;  and  further,  that  the  forces  of 
the  heavenly  realm  asserting  themselves  in  the  person 
and  kingdom  of  Immanuel,  are  in  a  measure  in  co- 
operation with  the  normal  forces  and  essential  el- 
ements of  the  world,  and  should  always  be  in  absolute 
conflict  with  the  sin-breeding  and  death-dealing  forces 
fortressecl  and  sometimes  disguised  in  the  fallen  world 
with  its  vain  pomp  and  glory,  and  the  flesh  with  all 
its  sinful  desires,  as  well  as  with  the  devil  ^vith  all 
his  ways  and  works. 

The  student  of  church-history  may  need  a  printed 
text  book  to  guide  him  along  the  current  of  its  con- 
stant flow,  but  such  history  is  itself  the  concrete  and 
illustrated  book  in  which  and  from  which  may  be 
learned  as  nowhere  else  that  our  God  is  marching  on. 
Let  the  devout  and  diligent  student  for  the  holy 
ministry  read  and  study  that  book  accordingly.  Then 
will  he  learn  that  the  rumblings  of  Immanuel 's  char- 
iot wheels  are  growing  more  and  more  distinct  as  the 
years  roll  by.  Then  too  will  he  learn  to  hear  that  the 
mountains  and  the  hills,  the  valleys  and  the  rills 
are  breaking  forth  into  singing,  until  every  ear  shall 
speak  it  back  again;  '^Lo  this  is  our  God,  we  have 
waited  for  him  ! ' ' 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  145 


LECTURE  X 

The  Ideal  Preacher ^s  Sermonic  Use  of  the  Bible 
AND  THE  Periscopes 

The  discussion  of  the  subject-matter  under  con- 
sideration in  our  last  lecture  led  us  to  lay  great  stress 
upon  the  importance  of  incorporating  the  teachings 
of  divine  revelation  with  the  utterances  of  the  evan- 
gelical pulpit.  The  contention  was  that  an  ounce  of 
a  "thus  saith  the  Lord"  is  worth  the  whole 
avoirdupois  of  "thus  saith  the  mere  human  preach- 
er;" that  there  is  both  a  primary  source  and  a  flowing 
stream  of  the  full  revelation  of  God  to  man;  that 
the  two  must  be  held  in  their  proper  relation  to  each 
other  in  order  to  make  glad  the  city  of  our  God,  the 
habitation  of  the  Most  High;  that  the  authoritative 
record  of  the  former  is  found  in  the  canonical  volume 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures,  and  that 
the  latter  is  observed  as  now  making  its  record 
in  the  concrete  teachings  of  church-history;  that,  in 
other  phrasings,  revelation  is  continuous  in  time  on 
a  line  parallel  with  the  development  of  the  historic 
church;  that  such  continuity  and  ecclesiastical  un- 
folding, by  degrees,  of  the  divine  will  to  man,  is 
nothing  more  or  less  than  what  a  rational  faith  would 
look  for  on  the  part  of  an  Infinite  Father  who  is  as 
considerate  in  his  wisdom  as  he  is  supreme  in  goodness 
and  transcendent  in  glory;  that  such  view  of  a  con- 
stant and  progressive  revelation  is  the  only  one  con- 
sistent with  a  genuine  faith  in  the  logical  fulfillment 

10 


146  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

of  the  Law  and  the  Prophecies  as  more  especially 
and  predictivelv  revealed  before  the  birthday  of  the 
church  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  that  the  student 
of  church-history  can  so  read  the  signs  of  the  times 
as  to  recognize  such  a  living  book  of  ecclesiastical 
chronicles  showing  God's  way  in  Zion  as  to  hear  the 
trees  of  the  woods  clapping  their  hands  and  echoing 
back  the  exultant  shout  of  heaven;  Lo,  this  is  our 
God  in  the  victorious  majesty  of  his  kingdom  and 
power  and  glory. 

We  now  continue  our  consideration  of  the  general 
subject  with  the  inquiry:  Wliat  use  should  be  made 
of  the  Bible  in  the  preacher's  study  and  pulpit?  It 
is  a  very  serious  and  important  queston.  The  abuse 
and  misuse  of  the  sacred  Book  is  the  sacrilegious 
sin  of  the  post-Reformation  age,  and  the  abomin- 
ible  religious  travesty  of  a  nominal  Christendom. 
There  has  been  nothing  like  it  since  Jacob  sojourned 
in  the  land  of  Ham.  The  holy  volume  has  been  assailed 
by  edicts  from  the  throne,  ribaldry  from  the  rostrum, 
ridicule  from  profane  baboons  and  thunders  from  the 
batteries  of  infidelity,  but  it  has  been  abused  in  the 
pulpit  more  than  anywhere  else.  It  has  suffered  less 
from  the  attacks  of  its  avowed  enemies,  such  as  Celsus, 
Gibbon,  Payne  and  Ingersoll,  than  at  the  hands  of 
its  half  witted,  half  educated  and  half  Christianized 
friends.  Instead  of  being  the  Gibraltar  of  its  defense, 
the  pulpit  frequently  surrenders  the  book  to  itis 
enemies.  This  is  done  upon  false  religious  issues,  or  in 
vain  attempts  to  support  narrow  religious  opinions 
not  authorized  by  its  obvious  teachings  when  the 
divine  oracle  is  properly  understood. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  147 

The  Bible  is  abused  when  the  book  itself  is  re- 
garded as  being  the  revelation  from  God  to  man 
instead  of  being  reverently  held  as  the  authorized  rec- 
ord of  such  revelation.  ''This  is  the  record  that  God 
hath  given  us  eternal  life,  and  that  this  life  is  in 
his  Son."  It  is  misrepresented  in  the  denial  that  it 
has  a  human  and  fallible  as  well  as  a  divine  and 
inerrant  side  in  the  unity  of  its  unique  constitution. 
Its  lips  are  measurably  sealed  when  it  is  obliged  to 
speak  and  yet  not  permitted  to  deliver  its  message  in 
the  purity  of  its  original  tongue.  It  is  placed  at  a 
disadvantage  when  called  and  forced  to  give  testimony 
in  a  court  not  in  sympathy  with  its  proper  mission 
in  the  world.  The  interpreter  makes  a  false  use  of 
the  Bible  when  he  injects  his  own  opinion  into  the 
book  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  it  out  again  through 
the  narrow  pipe-stem  of  his  own  individual  judgment 
under  the  false  appearance  of  divine  authority. 
Therefore,  let  the  fair,  competent  and  unprejudiced 
teacher  take  notice  of  the  above  announcement  of 
the  possibilities  of  abuses  of  the  Bible  and  govern 
himself  accordingly. 

The  model  preacher  regards  it  as  only  a  part  of 
his  duty  to  correct  these  abuses  and  misuses  of  the 
sacred  oracle.  As  shown  in  the  preceding  lecture 
touching  the  manner  of  treating  moot  cases  in  the 
revealed  word,  it  may  be  stated  also  in  the  matter 
of  false  uses  of  the  scriptures,  that  it  is  not  always  best 
for  a  preacher  to  advertise  evils  for  the  purpose  of 
making  an  exhibition  of  his  own  adroitness  in  batter- 
ing down  an  imaginary  enemy  of  his  own  creation. 


148  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

Beside  such  men  of  straw,  there  are  real  difficul- 
ties to  be  encountered  in  the  human  side  of  the  Bible, 
as  well  as  profound  mysteries  impenetrable,  in  the 
subject  matter  of  revelation  itself.  These  difficulties 
frequently  appear  in  the  written  word  as  seemingly 
paradoxical  statements  into  which  the  competent 
minister  does  well  to  take  heed  in  his  pulpit  min- 
istrations. Such  seeming*  contradictions  of  obvious 
truths  are  met  with  in  various  portions  of  the  Bible, 
one  of  which  may  be  passingly  alluded  to  in  this 
connection ;  and  the  elimination  of  the  seeming  absurd- 
ity therein  may  serve  also  to  illustrate  the  spirit  of 
the  ideal  preacher  in  handling  such  and  somewhat 
similar  cases. 

A  sample  selection  is  recorded  in  Luke  14 :  11. 
In  disposing  of  this  case  it  may,  first  of  all,  be  stated 
that  it  does  not  necessarily  involve  an  insuperable 
paradox:  ''For  whosoever  exalteth  himself  shall  be 
abased;  and  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  ex- 
alted." This  is  not  a  paradox.  To  those  who  have 
eyes  to  see,  it  contains  neither  a  real  nor  a  seeming 
absurdity.  Our  Lord  had  "put  forth  a  parable,"  or 
rather  had  delivered  a  parabolic  address  to  those  whose 
false  views  of  dignity  had  led  them  to  choose  out 
the  chief  seats  at  the  wedding  feast.  The  sentence 
quoted  is  expressive  of  the  moral  lesson  he  intended 
to  teach.  The  construction  of  the  sentence  is  some- 
what after  the  peculiar  style  of  much  Hebrew  poetry. 
Here,  however,  the  poetic  parallelism  is  reversed.  The 
declaration  is  made  to  sound  back  upon  itself  as  an 
antiphon.  As  a  whole,  it  is  a  practical  application 
of   the    truth    taught    in    the    parable.      The   lesson 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  149 

taug-lit  is  intended  to  bring  out  the  principles  of 
true  dignity — a  truth  not  visible  in  the  hemisphere 
of  a  world  alienated  from  God,  and  consequently 
in  the  darkness  of  its  own  shadow.  The  lesson  does 
not  conflict  with  the  truth  that  dignity  and  honor 
are  desirable  elements  and  lawful  acquirement  in 
human  life.  This  truth,  however,  is  always  to  be  seen 
in  its  proper  connection  with  its  complemental  fact 
that 

"The  Almighty  from  His  throne  surveys 
Naught  greater  than  an  honest  humble  heart." 

Our  Lord's  method  of  reaching  such  ministerial 
dignity  as  well  as  attaining  to  common  Christian 
honor,  as  the  essence  and  crown  of  man's  moral 
nature,  is  the  very  reverse  of  the  world's  methods. 
Hence  the  almost  paradoxical  nature  of  the  divine 
lesson.  Seeking  exaltation  for  itself  alone  is  dishonor- 
able to  preachers  of  the  gospel.  It  is  a  blunder  and 
a  folly  to  be  classed  among  the  sins  by  which  the 
angels  fell.  If  thus  attained,  it  is  a  false  honor 
which  dishonors  the  man  who  is  heir  apparent 
to  the  throne  of  lawful  promotion.  Even  self,  to  be 
true  to  itself,  must  look  beyond  self.  This  kind  of 
ethics  is  contrary  to  the  fallen  world's  conception  of 
morals,  and  out  of  accord  with  its  prevailing  senti- 
ment. Hence  the  world  looks  up  to  such  things  as 
paradoxical.  The  world  is  too  blind  to  see  the  unseen 
excellency  of  exalting  humilty.  It  therefore  remains 
ignorant  of  the  invisible  force  and  fudamental  law 
of  Christ's  kingdom  at  hand  in  the  world,  and  yet 
above  the  world.     Self  seeking  after  self  exaltation 


150  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

is  the  religion  of  the  world,  and  its  history  is  writ- 
ten in  abasement  and  blood.  Only  the  opposite  course 
can  lead  to  full  realization  of  humanity's  golden 
dream  of  honor  and  glory.  Self-humiliation  must, 
however,  not  have  exaltation  as  the  leading  ulterior 
motive.  Like  the  great  Prince,  the  ideal  preacher 
humbles  himself  in  the  element  of  true  dignity  for 
the  joy  that  is  set  for  him  in  the  hope  of  making 
others  truly  noble  and  happy.  Virtue  is  its  own  re- 
ward. Let  no  man  deceive  himself.  The  monster 
who  would  prostitute  the  pulpit  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  pitiable  display  of  his  pretentious  powers 
in  religious  polemics  should  be  sent  to  the  North 
Pole  and  kept  there  in  cold  storage,  until  all  the 
microbes  of  his  unpardonable  vanity  have  been  exter- 
minated by  thorough  congealment.  Pietistic  simula- 
tion is  the  most  abominable  of  all  hypocrisy.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  unpretentious  Christian  minister 
is  the  gem  of  all  ethical  beauty;  his  character  is 
the  Gibraltar  of  ethical  strength  and  his  unassuming 
modesty  is  the  germ  of  all  ethical  glory; 

"From  ostentation,  affectation  free, 
He  stands,  like  the  cerulean  arch  we  see, 
Majestic  in  his  own  simplicity." 

Saint  Paul  covers  the  entire  case  under  consider- 
ation. II  Cor.  4 :  2.  He  doubtless  included  all  forms 
of  pulpit  perverseness  when  he  wrote :  ' '  Having  this 
ministry,"  he  "renounced  the  hidden  things  of  dis- 
honesty, craftiness  and  handling  the  word  of  God 
deceitfidly."  Either  consciously  or  otherwise,  the 
word  of  God  is  too  generally  handled  with  deceit  in 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  151 

which  abstracted  scripture  may  be  used  to  prove 
many  of  our  popular  pulpits.  There  is  a  way  in 
which  Scripture  may  be  used  to  prove,  or  disprove 
anything  desired  by  the  audience  with  itching 
ears.  This  is  done  by  applying  the  quotation 
independent  of  the  connection  in  which  it  stands, 
and  with  no  regard  to  the  time  or  place  or  conditions 
under  which  the  passage  was  breathed  into  the 
Bible  in  its  proper  relation  to  the  wiiole  organic 
unity  of  the  purpose  running  through  the  one  revel- 
ation of  the  divine  will  to  man  and  its  subsequent 
enshrinement  in  the  sacred  book.  This  manner  and 
habit  of  ''handling  the  Word  of  God  deceitfully" 
was  doubtless  recognized  in  the  early  ages  of  the 
church,  and  vigilantly  guarded  against  in  all  the 
ages  that  followed  down  to  the  present  time.  The 
provision  was  made  in  that  general  directory  of  wor- 
ship which  at  least  suggests  an  order  for  the  altar 
and  the  chancel,  the  pulpit  and  the  pew.  And  a 
due  observance  of  the  pericopes  will  protect  the  pul- 
pit against  false  preachers,  as  well  as  the  altar  from 
false  priests.  From  perversity  in  the  pulpit  and 
travesty  at  the  altar:  Good  Lord,  deliver  us. 

The  model  minister  is  not  entirely  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  the  order  of  the  pericopes  implies  and  in- 
volves a  service  at  the  altar  as  well  as  a  sermon  from 
the  pulpit,  and  that  these  two  are  joined  together 
in  holy  w^edlock  by  a  devout  use  of  the  collect  for  the 
day.  It  furthermore  implies  a  reciprocal  relation 
between  liturgies  and  homiletics.  Although  the  two 
at  certain  points  interpenetrate  and  overlap,  they  are, 
nevertheless,  distinct,  and  primarily  belong  to  differ- 


152  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ent  portions  of  the  general  and  fully  comprehensive 
service  of  the  sanctuary.  Liturgies  may  include  the 
sermon  as  an  essential  part  of  public  worship;  hom- 
iletics  must  enmbrace  a  devout  and  prayerful  spirit 
in  order  to  successful  sermonic  preparation  and  de- 
livery. Homiletics  pertains  to  preaching;  liturgies 
primarily  to  prayer.  Preaching  is  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  people;  praise  is  for  the  honor  of  God. 
Eloquence  belongs  properly  to  the  pulpit  of  the  sanct- 
uary :  around  the  altar  in  the  sanctuary  are  exercised 
those  moral  emotions  with  the  more  devout  activities 
of  the  human  soul  when  aroused  by  the  truth  of  God 
as  proclaimed  in  the  message  delivered  from  the  pul- 
pit. Owing  to  the  poverty  of  the  English  language 
we  have  no  word  sufficiently  deep  and  broad  where- 
by to  express  just  what,  only  what,  and  all  of  what 
we  need  to  give  and  receive,  when  we  as  God's  child- 
ren enter  into  his  covenant  gates  with  thanksgiving 
and  fill  his  courts  with  praise  in  such  a  way  as  to 
receive  a  blessing  from  the  God  of  our  salvation. 
We  use,  therefore,  a  word  not  yet  fully  at  home  in 
English  literature.  That  word  is  "cultus."  The 
term  expresses  the  full  idea  of  Christian  worship. 
Heathens,  Jews  and  Mohammedans  worship  in  a  way, 
but  their  worship  is  not  cultus.  Cultus  includes  that 
worship  which  is  made  possible  by,  and  in  which  the 
soul  of  the  Christian  co-operates  with  those  heavenly 
powers  which,  through  the  incarnation  of  Christ  and 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  brought  unto  him 
and  into  him,  and  made  to  surround  him  in  the  coven- 
ant of  grace.  This,  of  course,  implies  an  order  of 
life   with   the  factors   and  forces  not   found  in   the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  153 

world  as  naturally  constituted.  Whether  we  call 
it  the  kingdom,  the  covenant  or  the  church  of  God, 
it  is  the  real  community  with  members,  means  and 
powers  at  hand  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  ordained. 

This  order  of  life  includes  all  time,  and,  with 
expanding  portals,  makes  room  for  every  age,  as  well 
as  for  all  the  proper  relations  of  the  Christian  family, 
the  Christian  school  and  the  Christian  church.  Chris- 
tian cultus  expresses  not  only  what  we  do  for  God 
in  our  acts  of  worship,  but  also  what  God  does  for 
us  in  and  throught  those  very  acts.  ''We  worship 
not  alone  that  we  may  bring  an  offering,  but  yet 
more  and  rather  that  we  may  receive  help  in  time 
of  need.  All  worship  aims  at  giving  and  getting. 
We  give  prayer  and  get  what  prayer  asks  for,  unless 
we  ask  amiss.  We  give  praise  because  we  have  already 
received  that  which  prompts  us  to  pray.  We  give 
confession;   we  get  remission." 

All  of  these  elements  and  much  more  is  embraced 
in  what  Dr.  Henry  Harbaugh  felicitously  called  the 
' ' sanctification  of  time" — the  coming  of  the  infinite 
into  the  finite  realm,  the  condescension  of  the  absolute 
into  the  conditioned;  the  bowing  down  of  heaven  to 
earth;  the  reaching  of  eternity  into  time.  Time  is 
brought  into  consecrated  relation  to  the  iniinite  and 
the  eternal.  This  includes  the  division  of  time,  the 
various  divinely  ordained  sections  of  time  and  the 
entire  fullness  of  time,  from  the  shutting  of  the  garden 
gates  of  Eden  to  the  closing  of  the  pearly  portals  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  when  time  shall  be  no  more. 

We  have  learned  from  our  study  of  sacred  chro- 


154  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

nology  that  already  among  the  Jews  God  authorized 
and  sanctioned  a  division  of  time  into  cycles  of  days, 
weeks,  months,  years,  weeks  of  years,  multiplied  Aveeks 
of  years  and  millenniums.  All  these  find  their  key 
of  meaning  in  the  Sabbatic  idea.  This  Sabbatic 
idea  was  incarnated  in  an  actual  fact  which  is  found 
standing  at  the  very  threshold  of  all  history.  God 
rested  and  made  provision  for  man  to  rest.  God 
rests  in  his  sanctuary.  Hence  the  Psalmist  says: 
"For  the  Lord  hath  chosen  Zion;  he  hath  desired  it 
for  his  habitation.  This  is  my  rest  forever;  here  I 
will  dwell,  for  I  have  desired  it."  Yes,  God  rests 
with  man  in  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary,  thus  open- 
ing the  way  for  man  to  rest  with  God  in  that  eternal 
habitation  where  congregations  never  break  up  and 
where  the  heavenly  Sabbath  will  know  no  setting  sun. 
This  brings  us  to  consider  the  Sabbatic  idea  as  more 
fully  realized  in  the  New  Testament  and  under  the 
the  Christian  dispensation.  The  ideal  preacher  when- 
ever he  is  conscious  of  his  high  calling  from  bondage 
to  liberty,  never  confounds  the  Lord's  Day  with  the 
Jewish  Sabbath.  It  was  at  the  end  of  the  Old  Test- 
ament Sabbath,  when  it  began  to  dawn  toward  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  and  it  was  on  the  first  day  in 
the  new  and  newly  consecrated  order  and  section  of 
time,  that  Jesus  Christ  introduced  a  new  calendar 
by  his  glorious  resurrection.  Like  Isaiah's  bed,  the 
Jewish  Sabbath  was  too  short  to  serve  the  broad, 
thorough  and  comprehensive  purpose  of  Christian 
cultus.  We  would  not  have  something  less,  but 
vastly  more  and  better  than  was  signified  by  the  Sab- 
bath of  the  Old  Testament.    That  day,  like  everything 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  155 

else  under  Moses  failed  to  make  the  comers  there- 
unto perfect.  As  well  attempt  to  carry  forward 
the  work  of  the  Jewish  high  priest  into  the  adminis- 
trations of  the  Christian  ministry.  The  Jewish  idea 
of  the  Sabbath  passed  away  with  Judaism;  the 
Christian  conception  of  reconsecrated  and  recon- 
structed time  was  installed  in  its  stead  when,  in  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,  redeemed  humanity  burst  the 
bands  of  the  old,  and  triumphantly  passed  into  a 
higher  realm  of  being  and  a  higher  order  of  commun- 
ion with  God.  The  resurrection  of  our  Lord  and  the 
consequent  institution  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  mark 
the  ending  of  the  old  and  the  beginning  of  all  that  is 
newly  true  and  truly  new  in  the  onflow  of  the  world 's 
great  history.  Each  Lord's  day  is  an  Easter  day — 
a  repetition  of  that  moveable  festival  which  helps 
to  regulate  the  sacred  calendar  of  the  church  year. 

The  intelligent  minister  needs  not  to  be  informed 
that  the  worship  of  God  in  connection  with  or  in- 
cluding the  reading  of  certain  select  portions  of 
Scripture  chosen  according  to  previous  arrange- 
ment and  custom,  seems  to  have  prevailed  in  early 
times.  Scriptural  readings — not  merely  the  reading 
of  Scripture  by  haphazard  selection — were  used  in  the 
church  of  the  apostolic  age.  These,  of  course,  were 
from  the  Old  Testament,  before  the  New  Testament 
canon  was  organized.  The  method  common  among  the 
Jews  was  to  read  from  the  Law  (perashim)  and  from 
the  prophets  (haphtarim).  Thus  we  read,  Acts  13: 15: 
''They  went  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
and  after  the  reading  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets" 
they  did  certain  other  things. 


156  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

At  a  later  date,  under  a  more  advanced  state  of  the 
church,  selections  included  readings  from  the  New 
Testament  Scriptures.  The  pericopes,  like  the  creed 
and  like  the  various  forms  of  church  government,  grew 
out  of  the  life  and  freedom  of  the  church.  We  have  no 
authority  in  the  form  of  scriptural  precept  for  either. 
Where  the  spirit  of  Christ  is,  there  is  liberty.  Ignor- 
ing this  rule  and  form  of  direction,  we  would  have  no 
authority  for  observing  the  first  day  of  the  week  as 
the   Christian   Sabbath. 

These  forms  of  development  all  meet  us  as  a  legiti- 
mate and  organic  outfllow  and  onflow  of  the  life  of  the 
early  church.  Vainly  have  attempts  been  made  to 
fix  the  date  of  the  incipiency  of  the  pericopes.  Some 
have  held  that  they  were  in  existence  in  the  age  of 
the  apostles.  Others  have  maintained  that  they  were 
introduced  by  Constantine  the  Great.  Still  others  con- 
tend that  Musaeus,  Presbyter  at  Marseilles,  first  col- 
lected or  compiled  the  Lectionary  in  458.  It  may 
suffice  to  say  that  the  authority  is  found  in  the  practice 
of  the  church  dating  back  to  an  early  period.  Through 
this  practice,  continued  in  its  imperfect  form,  the 
general  system  of  the  Church-Year  was  gradually 
organized,  bringing  another  arrangement  of  time  into 
the  service  of  a  more  expanded  Christian  cultus. 

The  church  year  finds  its  miniature  picture  and 
fundamental  principle  in  the  life  of  Christ  as  he 
journeyed  on  the  earth  and  passed  by  the  way  of  his 
passion  and  triumph  through  the  everlasting  gates 
to  glory.  If  Christianity  is  the  glorified  life  of  Christ 
manifesting-  itself  in  the  world,  Christian  cultus  must 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  157 

lay  hold  of  the  divinely  ordained  element  of  time  with 
its  succession  of  events,  facts  and  factors  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world's  Redeemer.  It  has  been  truly  said 
that  "the  church  year  reproduces  the  life  of  Christ." 
It  brings  before  us  all  that  has  been  done  for  us  in 
the  past,  and  enables  us  to  anticipate  the  successive 
stages  and  ages  of  glory  awaiting  us  in  the  future. 
It  associates  the  Christian's  sublimest  conceptions 
with  the  flight  of  time^  It  brings  before  us,  in  its 
sacred  circle,  the  birth,  epiphany,  temptation,  sor- 
rows, death,  burial,  resurrection  and  ascension  of 
Him  who  is  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith; 
all  of  which, opened  the  way  for  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  constant  coming  of  the  saving 
powers  of  the  heavenly  world  .  This  series  of  objec- 
tive manifestations  of  God  to  man  culminates  in 
Trinity  Sunday.  Then  the  responsive  notes  of  grati- 
tude roll  back  through  all  the  Sundays  and  weeks 
after  Trinity.  Thus  we  have  the  great  facts  which 
underlie  doctrine,  and  the  reasonable  service  obliga- 
tory on  our  part.  The  chronological  order  is  first, 
Christ  to  usward,  and  then  we  Christward. 

In  a  foregoing  paragraph  we  said  that  the  peri- 
copes,  like  the  observance  of  the  first  day  of  the 
week  as  the  Lord's  Day,  were  not  introduced  into 
the  cultus  of  the  church  by  any  precept  or  command, 
but  as  an  essential  in-growth  of  the  church  itself, 
as  the  embodiment  of  the  great  mystery  of  godliness — 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  Acts  of  worship  in  the 
Christian  congregation,  as  organic  parts  of  a  com- 
prehensive cultus,  though  they  should  include  doctri- 
nal  apprehensions    and   theological    knowledge,    are. 


158  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

primarily,  exercisings  of  faith.  As  such,  they  must 
start  with  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  faith,  and 
move  forward  in  the  order  of  the  creed,  the  church 
year  and  directory  of  worship.  It  is,  indeed,  intend- 
ed to  repeat  annually,  for  Christian  edification,  the 
successive  events,  facts  and  factors  in  the  history 
of  the  world's  Redeemer;  but  it  means  vastly  more 
than  to  parade  these  panoramically  before  the  Chris- 
tian assembly  in  the  order  of  divine  solemnities.  It 
is  not  primarily  designed  to  enable  us  to  know  Christ 
after  the  flesh,  since  the  system  in  which  it  stands 
aims  to  emphasi^^e  the  importance  of  knowing  him  as 
a  very  present  Saviour  after  the  power  of  an  endless 
life.  It  implies  that  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  is  not 
only  "once  for  all,"  but  also  "of  force  always." 
His  mediatorial  work  does  not  hold  its  existence  in 
memory  simply  of  the  past.  In  his  death  and  resur- 
rection he  passed  into  a  new  order  of  existence. 
That  new  order  is  perpetual  in  the  church,  and  the 
purpose  of  the  pericopes  in  Christian  worship,  accord- 
ing to  the  order  of  the  church  year,  is  to  have  and 
to  hold  and  herald  the  ever-present  mystery  of  god- 
liness, in  all  its  parts,  in  all  their  organic  relations 
and  with  all  its  perennial  power  to  the  end  of  time. 
Now  all  this,  we  maintain,  as  something  actually 
practiced  in  the  church  before  the  Reformation,  was 
not  the  work  of  some  gifted  individal  living  in  some 
prolific  age,  neither  was  it  the  production  of  some 
ambitious  theologian  following  his  own  private  impulse 
and  judgment,  but  a  gradual  yet  actual  outgrowth 
of  the  faith  of  the  church  itself.  Neither  are  w^e  to 
do  ourselves  the   great  wrong  to   suppose   that  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  159 

church  calendar  comes  down  to  us  as  a  mere  form, 
to  be  tolerated  because  of  its  sacred  associations. 
It  was  not  a  cobweb  of  popery;  not  a  remnant  of  a 
Romish  fossil.  That  it  was  perverted  by  the  church 
before  the  Reformation  we  concede.  We  also  admit 
that  it  Ls  even  now  used  in  a  mechanical  and  tread- 
mill way,  by  some  portions  of  the  church.  But,  like 
many  other  things  which  have  been  abused,  it  is  good 
in  itself.  It  ha^  the  advantage  of  systematic,  chron- 
ological and  logical  order  in  Christian  cultus. 

I  urge  you,  therefore,  young  gentlemen,  not  to 
ignore  the  Christian  custom  of  past  ages  in  your 
ministerial  work.  Its  free  observance  will  save  you 
from  vain  repetitions  in  your  public  ministrations,  and 
supply  you  with  valuable  suggestions  as  to  what  is 
seasonable  and  reasonable  in  each  and  every  portion 
of  the  sacred  year.  It  will  prevent  you  from  dancing 
to  the  dolorous  tone  of  the  devil's  horn-pipe  with  its 
ten  thousand  variations.  It  will  keep  you  from  the 
folly  of  yeilding  to  the  temptations  to  plunge  into 
spectacular  pulpit  performances.  It  will  protect 
you  from  incongruities,  inconsistencies  and  incoher- 
encies  of  haphazard  homilies.  It  will  lead  you  from 
the  constant  succession  of  allurements  to  substitute 
self-explotiation,  sentimentalism,  sensationalism  and 
mere  socialism  for  the  ministrations  of  the  perennial 
and  everlasting  gospel.  It  will  help  you  to  lead  your 
people  into  green  pastures  and  by  the  side  of  living  wa- 
ters; and  at  the  same  time  into  that  communion  of 
Christian  worship  implied  by  a  genuine  communion  of 
saints.  It  will  enable  you  to  cover  every  essential  part 
and  emphasize  every  cardinal  point  in  the  compass  of 


160  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

the  whole  gospel.  And  in  so  doing,  your  people  will  be 
given  a  continuous  opportunity  to  cultivate  symmetry 
and  beauty  in  the  formation  of  Christian  characters 
that  will  outlive  the  stars  in  age  and  outshine  the 
sun  in  all  the  glory  of  his  meridian  blaze. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  161 


LECTURE  XI 

Art  as  an  Element  in  the  Ideal.  Preacher's  Sermon 
AND  ITS  Delivery 

In  the  last  lecture  much  emphasis  was  placed  on 
the  importance  of  making  a  lawful  use  of  the  Bible 
in  the  truly  evangelical  sermon.  It  was  contended 
that  the  Book  of  God  is  the  most  abused  of  all  the 
volumes  in  the  world's  great  library;  that  it  suffers 
more  at  the  hands  of  its  half-educated  and  half- 
Christianized  friends  than  under  the  open  assaults 
of  its  vowed  enemies;  that  such  is  the  case  because 
of  the  ignorance  that  abounds  respecting  the  nature 
and  mission  of  the  sacred  book  in  the  world;  that 
there  are  false  interpretations  of  the  Bible  because 
of  the  want  of  a  proper  knowledge  of  Hermeneutics ; 
that  for  the  want  of  such  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
correct  interpretation  the  pulpit  is  frequently  full 
of  blunders,  and  the  worship  at  the  altar  full  of 
devout  travesty;  that  the  early  church  seems  to  have 
recognized  the  trend  toward  such  dangerous  travesty 
in  Christendom,  and  wisely  provided  a  general  order 
of  worship  for  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  includ- 
ing scriptural  selections  arranged  in  the  order  of 
the  Christian  calendar  or  church  year,  and  that  the 
truly  devout,  intelligent  and  modest  minister  of  the 
gospel  gives  ear  and  heed  to  what  the  Spirit  is  thus 
saying  to  the  churches,  and  so  conducts  his  services 
in  the  sanctuary  as  to  assist  his  people  in  a  communion 

11 


162  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

of  doctrine,  as  well  as  in  a  communion  of  saints  in 
the  individual  fellowship  of  the  gospel. 

In  the  continuation  of  this  course  of  lectures,  it 
is  assumed  that  art  is  an  essential  element  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  model  sermon,  as  well  as  in  the  manner 
of  its  proper  delivery.  Art  is  defined  by  recog- 
nized authority  as  "a  means  for  the  attainment  of 
an  end  or  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  purpose.'^ 
If  it  be  employed  in  the  construction  of  a  mere 
mechanical  sermon,  whose  parts  are  thrown  together 
from  without,  or  in  a  desultory  delivery  of  such 
discourse,  it  should  be  classified  with  the  mechanical 
arts.  If  used  to  fill  the  sermonic  composition  with 
a  redundancy  of  rhetorical  platitudes,  or  the  delivery 
of  the  same  with  a  superabundance  of  studied  gestic- 
ulation, it  may  be  classed  with  the  liheral  arts.  If 
used  for  the  primary  purpose  of  attaining  Addisonian 
elegance  in  composition,  it  may  be  denominated  as 
one  of  the  elegant  arts.  If  employed  in  painting 
pulpit  rainbows  on  the  canvas  of  an  imaginary  sky, 
it  may  be  placed  under  the  enlarged  category  of 
fine  arts.  If  applied  in  arranging  the  proper  material 
in  the  construction  of  a  truly  evangelical  sermon, 
and  in  the  successful  delivery  thereof,  for  the  purpose 
of  converting  sinners  from  the  error  of  their  ways, 
and  confirming  believers  in  the  blessed  hope  of  the 
gospel,  it  may  be  very  properly  be  classed  with  the 
useful  arts. 

Art,  as  used  in  the  interest  of  the  public  press,  or 
upon  the  public  platform,  has  been  most  felicit- 
ously defined  as  ''The  ideal  expression  of  a  thought, 
a  sentiment  or  a  purpose."     Such  ideal  expression 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  163 

presupposes  that  such  thought  or  sentiment  or  pur- 
pose stands  in  proper  relation  to  itself,  its  origin 
and  all  of  its  environments.  It  is  only  when  thus 
related  that  "a  word  fitly  spoken  is  an  apple  of  gold 
in  a  picture  of  silver."  Prov.  25 :  11.  It  is  therefore 
the  mission  of  art,  as  thus  applied,  to  see  that  there 
is  proper  correspondence  between  the  thought  to  be 
expressed  and  the  expression  in  which  that  thought 
is  to  be  thus  clothed.  This  rule  is  applicable  to  all 
mediums  of  rhetorical  expression,  whether  at  the 
point  of  a  pen  or  through  the  power  of  the  tongue. 
A  masculine  or  stalwart  thought  cannot  be  properly 
expressed  in  effeminate  or  feeble  language ;  neither 
can  a  strong  and  clear  sentiment  find  adequate  utter- 
ance in  ambiguous  terms.  The  contents  of  phrases, 
sentences  and  paragraphs  should  also  bear  such  re- 
lation to  each  other  as  to  make  the  whole  composition 
clear,  forcible  and  convincive  to  the  audience.  It 
was  becauce  of  such  symmetrical  and  logical  arrange- 
ment between  the  parts,  as  much  as  the  consequence 
of  his  ideal  manner  of  speech  that  St.  Paul  in  his 
delivery  of  his  discourse  as  a  court  preacher  was 
able  to  almost  persuade  King  Agrippa  to  become  a 
Christian.  Indeed,  such  was  Paul's  arrangement  of 
thought  and  sentiment,  and  such  their  correspondence 
with  the  manner  of  his  delivery  that  the  Lystrians 
were  so  convinced  as  to  call  him  Mercury  because 
he  was  the  chief  speaker. 

As  the  science  of  exegesis  is  important  in  drawing 
out  the  true  meaning  of  the  sacred  text,  and  as  the 
science  of  hermeneutics  is  equally  important  in  the 
true  interpretation  thereof,  so  is  it  of  no  less  import- 


164  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ance  in  homiletics  to  supply  the  art  of  methodically 
arranging  the  results  of  all  such  inquiry  and  investi- 
gation in  the  most  logical  and  chronological  order. 
To  illustrate,  let  us  select  two  simple  texts;  the  one 
from  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  (Prov.  14:9) 
which  deals  with  negative  elements  of  truth  and 
the  other  from  the  New  Testament  (Matt.  5:8) 
which  presents  positive  ethical  verities  for  sermonic 
consideration. 

The  first  text  is:  "Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin.'' 
True  homiletic  art  would  seem  to  suggest  something 
like  the  following  as  a  natural,  logical  and  helpful 
arrangement   of   distinct,   yet  inseparable   questions: 

I.     What   is   sin? 
II.     What  is  it  to  mock  sin? 
III.     In  what  consists  the  folly  of  such  mockery? 

The  second  text:  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart 
for  they  shall  see  God.''  This  text  may  suggest  the 
following  questions  to  the  mind  of  the  apt  homilist: 

I.     What   is   purity   of   heart? 
II.     What  is  meant  by  seeing  God  ? 
III.     In    what    consists   the   blessedness    of   such 
purity  and  such  consequent  vision  ? 

It  is  constantly  kept  in  mind  by  the  ideal  minister 
that  the  most  systematically  arranged  sermon  is  out 
of  correspondence  with  its  surroundings  when  unac- 
companied in  the  general  worship  of  the  sanctuary  by 
a  devout  service  at  the  altar  of  equal  strength  and 
beauty.  A  good  sermon  without  an  altar  service  to 
match  is  like  a  gem  without  its  proper  setting,  while  a 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  165 

sermon  hidden  behind  a  superlatively  gorgeous  display 
of  art  in  devotion  is  like  a  calf  looking  through  a 
rose  bush. 

Just  how  far  art  is  to  be  employed  or  incorporated 
in  the  service  of  the  Christian  sanctuary  is  still  an 
unsolved  problem.  There  is  a  bald  theory  of  religion 
which  gives  it  no  room  whatever.  It  is  regarded  as 
absolutely  opposed  to  that  order  of  devotion  which 
professes  to  worship  God  in  the  spirit  and  in  truth ;  it 
is  looked  upon  as  something  that  mars  the  beauty 
of  holiness.  According  to  such  a  theory,  nothing  is 
spiritual  except  that  which  has  no  body,  and  nothing 
beautiful  except  that  which  is  naked.  With  this 
theory  we  take  direct  issue.  True  worship,  while 
it  is  spiritual,  does  not  seek  to  be  unclothed  but  clothed 
upon  with  the  habiliment  which  is  from  nature.  And 
what  is  art  but  the  power  that  brings  out  nature  and 
makes  it  serviceable  in  the  various  spheres  and  for 
the  various  objects  of  legitimate  human  activity!  If 
art  has  its  mission  in  mechanics,  architecture,  civil 
engineering,  sculpture,  painting,  poetry  and  music, 
why  should  it  not  be  conceded  its  central  and  highest 
sphere  in  religion?  Just  as  really  as  the  Son  of  God 
by  his  incarnation  aimed  to  bring  out  and  up  to  glory 
the  essential  constituents  of  humanity  at  the  head 
of  nature,  so  does  true  art  aim  to  bring  out  the 
essentials  of  the  natural  world  and  place  them  in  the 
service  of  the  Most  High  God.  Yes,  more.  Art 
reaches  after  that  which  intones  nature,  that  divine 
something  which  overshadows  and  underlies  nature. 
It  seeks  to  enter  the  sanctuary  of  the  divine  thought 
and  to  reveal  that  which  is  divinely  beautiful.     And 


166  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

when  this  effort  to  read  the  thoughts  of  God  as  he 
has  expressed  them  in  his  stupendous  handiwork  is 
carried  by  faith  into  the  sanctuary,  then  may  the 
Christian  artist  and  the  Christian  congregation  con- 
sistently pray:  "Let  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  our 
God  be  upon  us,  yes,  the  work  of  our  hands  estab- 
lish thou  it." 

The  master  workman  in  the  house  of  the  Lord 
seeks  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  moderate  and  modest 
use  for  music  as  one  of  the  fine  arts  in  worship, 
and  is  awake  to  the  fact  that  this  has  more  room  in 
the  liturgical  than  the  homiletical  parts  of  divine 
service.  He,  therefore,  seeks  to  lead  and  encourage 
his  people  to  desire  a  responsive  part  in  worship.  The 
antiphon  is  made  majestic  by  its  power  to  uplift  the 
audience.  It  has  always  been  thus.  For  example  take 
the  148th  Psalm  as  one  of  the  finest  antiphonal  con- 
tributions ever  added  to  the  volume  of  sacred  litera- 
ture, human  or  divine.  So  in  the  early  or  ancient 
Christian  church,  the  responses  and  simple,  though 
somewhat  monotonous  chants,  meet  us  at  every  turn 
in  full  relief.  The  Ambrosian  and  Gregorian  Chants 
come  echoeing  down  the  historic  aisle  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  One  great  defect  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  before  the  Reformation,  and  one  great  need 
for  the  Reformation,  was  that  the  people  had  little 
or  no  part  in  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary.  They 
were  made  and  kept  as  dumb  and  as  silent  as  the 
rider  of  Balaam's  ass.  The  Reformation  began  the 
restoration  of  the  rights  of  the  laity.  When  evan- 
gelical truth  re-opened  her  mighty  thunders  from  the 
upper  clouds,  the  emancipated  children  of  the  truth 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  167 

— the  laity  of  the  chrch —  opened  their  ears,  and 
untied  the  strings  of  their  tonnes,  with  a  new  song 
in  their  mouths.  Since  then  responsive  service  has 
been  the  rule  in  all  symmetrical  Protestant  worship. 
Of  course,  it  often  ran  away  like  parrot-chattering, 
as  in  much  of  the  ritualistic  formality  of  the  Episco- 
pal church.  There  is,  however,  no  necessity  for  such 
a  drift  into  perversion.  Let  all  the  people  praise 
thee,  0  God;  let  all  the  people  praise  thee.  Let  them 
throw  their  rosaries  of  idleness  away  and  audibly 
engage  in  the  worship  of  God.  Let  them  audibly  join 
in  the  confession  of  their  faith.  Allow  them  their 
antiphons  in  the  reading  of  God's  Word.  Make  room 
for  their  "Amens"  at  the  close  of  the  collects  and  of 
the  prayer,  and  never  excuse  them  for  not  joining 
audibly  in  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

Like  St.  Paul,  the  Christian  minister  is  ordained 
''for  the  defence  of  the  gospel"  and  all  that  pertains 
to  its  proper  mission  in  the  world.  He  is  not  only 
to  protect  that  which  is  obviously  right  and  correct 
that  which  is  manifestly  wrong  but  also  to  detect 
whatever  is  suspected  of  disg-uising  itself  in  false 
attire.  Of  this  last  there  is  much  in  the  Christian 
sanctuary.  Fine  arts,  w^hen  perverted,  become  faise 
arts,  or  fine  arts  falsely  applied;  and  false  arts,  like 
true  charity,  ''cover  a  multitude  of  sins."  Such 
possibility  of  perversion  inheres  in  the  ethical  universe 
as  now  constituted  and  it  can  never  be  entirely  elim- 
inated except  by  the  thorough  regeneration  of  man- 
kind. Just  as  we  have  science  falsely  so  called  and 
falsely  applied  to  everything  from  the  Ptolemaic 
astronomy  to  the  atheistic  theory  of  evolution:  just 


168  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

as  we  have  false  philosophy  running  like  rotten  threads 
through  all  the  warp  and  woof  of  our  imperfect 
theories  of  religion,  so  there  is  a  false  art  displaying 
itself  everywhere  in  all  the  works  of  man.  In  the 
old  heathen  world  phantasy  produced  the  myth,  and 
mythology  helped  to  seduce  the  nations.  Even  the 
phantasy  and  art  of  the  Middle  Ages  of  Christianity 
were  still  held  in  bondage  by  fragments  of  that  old 
mythological  slavery  which  had  been  transferred  to 
the  church  by  the  barbaric  elements  of  the  nations 
which  the  church  incorporated  in  an  outward  way. 
Even  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the  false  use 
of  images  and  paintings  in  the  churches  did  more  to 
pervert  the  divine  teaching,  and  to  obscure  the  divine 
thought  and  misrepresent  the  divine  will  than  to 
bring  them  out  in  beautiful  relief  for  the  perfection 
of  Christian  cultus,  and  the  assistance  of  the  Christian 
worshiper.  And  although  the  Reformation,  and  the 
salutary  forces  put  into  operation  by  that  great  move- 
ment have  accomplished  much  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Christian  art,  and  in  the  application  of  its 
principles  and  achievements  to  the  enlargement  and 
perfection  of  Christian  worship,  there  is  still  very 
much  that  needs  correction,  and  must  be  corrected 
before  the  service  of  the  sanctuary  can  be  rounded 
out  in  full  realization  of  its  true  idea.  There  is  a 
false  application  of  art  when  the  church  is  erected  as 
an  ostentatious  monument  of  human  vanity.  There 
is  a  false  application  of  art  wherever  there  is  a 
want  of  correspondence  between  the  house  of  worship 
and  the  worship  therein.  There  is  false  application 
of  art  when  the  sanctuary  and  the  paintings  in  the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  169 

church  fail  to  instruct  the  worshiper  by  suggesting 
holy  memories  worthy  of  the  place,  worthy  of  the  ser- 
vice, and  worthy  of  the  God  who  is  professedly  held 
in  adoration.  There  is  a  false  application  of  art  when 
the  minister  officiates  in  an  unknown  tongue.  There 
is  a  false  application  of  art  when  the  minister  strains 
his  inventive  genius  to  produce  the  most  eloquent 
prayer  ever  delivered  to  a  Bostonian  audience.  There 
is  a  false  application  of  art  when,  in  the  use  and 
abuse  thereof,  the  choir  runs  away  from  the  congre- 
gation by  soaring  off^  into  the  performance  of  some 
religious  jigameree. 

Wonder  if  the  inspired  composer  of  the  84th  Psalm 
were  to  visit  our  planet  at  this  time,  look  through  the 
back  window^  into  the  modern  sanctuary,  see  some 
wretched  travesty  behind  the  chancel-rail  and  in  the 
choir-loft,  and  then  watch  the  imposing  pageantry 
of  dress  parade  in  flowing  gowns — wonder  if  he  would 
exclaim,  as  of  old,  "How  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles, 
0,  Lord  of  hosts."  Would  he  still  think  it  a  desir- 
able place  for  the  sparrow  to  find  a  house,  and  the 
swallow  a  nest  for  herself  where  she  could  lay  her 
young,  even  thine  altars  ?  Or  would  he  think  it  a  more 
proper  place  for  the  foul  birds  of  prey?  "Where 
the  carcass  is,  there  the  feathered  scavengers  are 
gathered  together." 

"St7'ength  and  beauty  are  in  his  sanctuary."  These 
two  elements  are  complement al  in  the  constitution  of 
sane  and  sound  Christian  cultus.  Beauty  is  a  garland 
peculiar  to  the  altar  and  that  which  it  represents  in 
worship,  although  more  loveliness  should  grace  the 
entire  sanctuary  service.     Strength  is  rather  predic- 


170  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

able  as  an  attribute  of  the  evangelical  pulpit.  Indeed, 
as  already  said  in  this  course  of  lectures,  the  pulpit 
is  the  Gibraltar  of  genuine  Protestantism.  This  is 
realized  by  the  ideal  preacher  in  the  proportion  that 
he  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  Christian  ministry 
is  instituted  by  divine  authority,  and  the  minister 
is  made  efficient  by  supernatural  strength.  ' '  The  Lord 
send  thee  help  out  of  the  sanctuary."  It  is  there- 
fore the  primary  duty  of  the  preacher  to  feel  the 
force  of  the  fact  that  his  calling  is  above  all  others. 

"All  other  men,  what  name 
So'er  they  bore,  whatever  office  held 
If  lawful  held  —  the  magistrate  supreme. 
Or  else  subordinate,  —  were  chosen  by  men, 
Their  fellows,  and  from  men  derived  their  power. 
And  were  accountable  for  all  they  did 
To  men,  but  he,  alone,  his  office  held 
Immediately  from  God,  from  God  received 
Authority,  and  was  to  none  but  God 

Amenable." 

Young  Gentlemen :  Would  you  test  the  degree  of 
strength  that  God  is  willing  to  put  into  your  pulpits, 
be  sure  that  you  step  upon  the  sacred  rostrum  in 
right  attitude  to  the  power  behind  the  scene  and  in 
expectancy  from  the  "Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the 
heavenly  throne"  (Rev.  4:6).  As  Moses  did,  you 
may  also  consistently  say  to  God  in  your  prepara- 
tory prayer,  ''Except  thy  presence  go  with  me,  carry 
us  not  up  thence."  He  will  go  with  you.  It 
was  at  that  point  in  the  history  of  the  great  law- 
giver that  God  really  began  to  ' '  make  known  his  ways 
unto  Moses,  and  his  acts  unto  the  children  of  Israel." 
Follow  that  example  given  by  the   adopted  son  of 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  171 

Pharaoh's  daugher.  Exhaust  the  means  for  your  full 
equipment  to  the  utmost  limit  of  your  possibilities. 
Keep  your  baptismal  engagement  in  mind.  Let  your 
confirmation  vows  remain  fresh  in  your  memory. 
Your  certificates  of  licensure  and  ordination  will 
remind  you  of  your  authority  from  the  church,  and 
from  the  heavenly  world,  to  execute  your  apostolic 
commission.  In  order  that  you  may  be  constantly 
panoplied  for  your  conflict  with  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness, let  the  door  between  your  closet  of  devotion 
and  your  study  swing  on  easy  hinges.  The  Father 
who  heareth  you  in  secret  and  helps  you  to  equip 
yourself  in  the  armory  of  David  will  reward  you 
openly  when  you  step  upon  the  public  platform. 

Such  relation  to  your  heavenly  base  of  supplies 
will  help  you  to  open  up  all  the  avenues  of  nature 
for  homiletical  material  with  which  to  amplify  your 
sermons.  No  narrow  limitations  will  then  be  able  to 
contract  your  powers.  Remember  that  the  earth 
is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof;  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  and 
that  the  river  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding 
from  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,  receives 
supplies  from  many  terrestrial  tributaries,  as  it  flows 
on  to  make  glad  the  City  of  God.  Indeed,  nature 
can  have  no  higher  mission  than  that  of  subserving 
the  ends  of  the  gospel;  and  when  the  great  day  of 
restitution  shows  the  completeness  of  God's  wise  and 
gracious  plan  of  the  world's  redemption,  it  will  doubt- 
less appear  to  the  glorified  hosts  of  heaven  that  there 
was  no  superfluous  factor  or  element  in  the  monu- 
ment that  the  Redeemer  is  now  rearing  to  his  ever- 


172  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  • 

lasting  praise.  Go,  therefore,  to  the  great  storehouse 
of  nature  in  all  her  departments  and  draw  out  her 
multiplied  and  multiform  revenues  for  the  enrich- 
ment and  advancement  of  the  work  which  God  has 
given  you  to  do.  Watch  ye  for  openings  and  oppor- 
tunities. Stand  fast  in  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be 
strong.  The  ministry  has  enough  surface  skimmers 
and  skippers.  Neither  does  it  greatly  need  the  man, 
*^deep  versed  in  books,  yet  shallow  in  himself."  Be 
Christian  scientists  and  scientific  Christians. 

"Take  room ;  think  vastly ;  meditate  intensely ; 
Reason  profoundly;  send  conjecture  forth; 
Let  fancy  fly ;  stoop  down  ;  ascend ; 
All  length,  all  breadth  explore." 

In  so  doing  you  will  be  able  not  only  to  perform 
the  positive  and  whole  work  of  an  evangelist,  but 
also  develop  your  manhood  by  enabling  your  inven- 
tive genius  to  become  more  boundless  in  its  resources, 
your  imagination  more  creative  in  elegant  arts,  and 
your  thoughts  more  profound  and  prolific  in  your 
thorough  study  of  nature's  lessons  for  the  secrets 
of  nature's  God. 

With  natural  abilities  and  fair  scholastic  attain- 
ments, the  equipments  indicated  in  the  foregoing  para- 
graphs should  be  enough  to  give  the  minister  proper 
freedom  and  force  in  the  pulpit.  Too  much  art  may 
lead  the  skeptical  hearer  to  suspect  affectation.  Like 
foreign  color  in  butter,  it  may  be  taken  for  adultera- 
tion, and  thus  become  an  abomination.  The  best  art  in 
a  public  speaker  is  artless  simplicity.  "It  pleased 
God  through  the  foolishness  or  simplicity  of  preach- 
ing to   save   them   that   believe."     The   pulpit   calls 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  173 

for  the  natural  rather  than  the  artificial  man,  when 
the  artificial  makes  the  man  unnatural.  When  Paul 
said  that  "the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  for  they  are  foolishness  to  him,"  he 
did  not  use  the  term  ''natural"  as  now  understood 
in  the  light  of  modem  psychology.  Sin  has  caused 
the  natural  man  to  become  the  unnatural  man.  The 
little  child  is  the  orator  of  the  family,  and  more 
convincive  in  its  unpretentious  eloquence,  because 
it  has  not  yet  learned  the  false  art  of  affectation. 
Young  gentlemen,  unless  you  become  as  little  chil- 
dren in  this  respect  you  should  not  attempt  to  enter 
the  pulpit.  The  soul-stirring  appeals  of  the  little 
child,  free  from  affectation  and  without  any  acquired 
art,  carries  conviction  where  Cicero  and  Demosthenes 
would  fail.  If  you  would  imitate  anybody  in  oratory, 
let  your  model  be  the  little  child. 

Let  pathos,  with  its  pearly  tear, 
Vibrate  the  soul  with  all  its  chords. 

Let  modulation  charm  the  ear 
By  fitly-spoken,  fervent  words. 

Thus  let  truth's  banner  be  unfurled ; 

A  living  Christ  for  a  dying  world. 

Without  such  qualifications  for  the  ministry  young 
licentiates  become  either  timid  weaklings  or  mere 
presumptuous  talkers  along  the  firing  line  of  Zion's 
embannered  hosts.  It  is  often  the  case  in  the  gen- 
eral realm  of  causation  that  different  and  differing 
effects  follow  from  the  same  common  cause  or  source. 
The  same  sun  that  hardens  the  clay  softens  the  wax 
and  thaws  the  ice.  In  the  rational  and  human 
realm  the  difference   may  be   accounted   for  on   the 


174  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

ccrouud  of  differing  idiosjTierasies  in  the  psycholog- 
ical constitutions  of  one-sided  or  lop-sided  men.  Of 
these  two  sorts  of  opposite  characters  the  most  danger- 
ous bull  of  Bashan  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord's  house 
is  the  preacher  superlatively  endowed  with  the  dis- 
position to  rush  himself  to  the  front  for  the  primary 
purpose  of  self  exhibition.  He  is  fearfully  and  won- 
derfully made — with  the  gift  of  gab.  With  him 
egoism  is  eloquence  and  verbosity  is  equivalent  to 
oratory.  He  can  talk  upon  any  topic,  and  the  less 
he  knows  the  more  he  is  likely  to  prate.  It  is  his  com- 
fort in  life  or  death  to  become  a  popular  preacher 
in  order  that  great  numbers  may  hang  upon  his 
empty  words  entranced,  and  blow  him  into  notoriety 
through  the  bugle-horn  of  applauding  fools.  For  this 
purpose  he  advertises  his  sensational  themes.  In  his 
opinion  the  gospel  itself  has  no  attraction.  He  must 
become  the  magnet.  Hence  the  newspapers  are  called 
upon  to  stand  heavenly  gates  ajar  that  light  celest- 
ial from  the  great  white  throne  may  come  streaming 
down  into  his  heterogeneous  audience.  The  coming 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  must  be  announced  by 
the  sable  fluid  of  the  printing  press,  that  the  world 
may  have  the  opportunity  to  behold  Immanuers 
superlative  splendor  in  the  sombrous  haze  of  the 
pretentious  preacher's  little  tallow  dip. 

Such  personified  presumption  and  loquacity  find 
their  clerical  antipode  in  the  poorly  equipped  min- 
ister who  relies  largely  on  his  manuscript  without 
the  ability  to  make  his  heart  palpitate  on  paper.  He 
is  characterized  more  by  literary  pride  than  by  ex- 
cessive verbosity.     He  has  great  admiration  for  fine 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  175 

platitudes  and  finely  rounded  sentences.  Instead  of 
using  his  Addisionian  periods  to  feather  the  arrows 
of  conviction  that  should  be  made  to  speed  their  way 
to  the  penitent  heart,  they  are  employed  rather  to 
feather  his  own  personal  plume  as  a  knight  of  oratory. 
He  is  not  unwilling  to  allow  the  impression  go  forth 
that  he  has  a  smattering  of  learning,  as  a  linguist, 
a  philosopher,  a  scientist,  a  logician  and  a  rhetori- 
cian. 

But  let  us  clearly  understand  ourselves  at  this 
point.  The  ideal  preacher  is  not  averse  to  anything 
evangelically  valuable,  whether  in  scholarly  ability, 
pulpit  polish  or  floridity  of  speech.  He  would  utilize 
them  all  by  bringing  them  into  the  service  of  the 
Master  for  the  proclamation  of  the  truth,  in  order 
to  bring  out  both  the  profundity  and  simplicity 
of  the  truth.  He  aims  to  combine  both  the  meekness 
and  the  method  of  Moses  in  his  slowness  of  speech, 
and  the  loquacious  speaking  ability  of  Aaron  with 
the  more  versatile  talent  of  Joshua,  who  was  better 
qualified  than  either  of  them  to  lead  the  people  out 
of  the  wilderness  to  the  promise-land,  Moses  was  a 
writer  and  Aaron  was  a  speaker,  and  both  of  them 
had  elements  of  weaknesses  which  made  themselves 
manifest  in  certain  crucial  tests  of  their  respective 
characters.  Joshua  was  a  more  ideal  minister  in 
Israel.  His  character  not  only  embraced  all  essen- 
tial parts  of  a  complete  w^hole,  but  also  all  the  parts 
in  proper  proportion.  He  was  a  writer,  a  fluent 
speaker,  a  brave  soldier,  a  considerate  organizer,  a 
great  reformer,  a  virtuous  judge  in  Isreal,  an  impar- 
tial distributor  of  Isreal's  inheritance,  and  also,  and 


17b  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

best  of  all,  firm  in  his  personal  and  domestic  piety. 
''As  for  me  and  my  house  we  will  serve  the  Lord" 
(Josh.  24: 15).  Let  leaders  in  God's  New  Testament 
Israel  note  this  combination  of  excellencies  in  that 
model  character,  and  govern  themselves  accordingly. 

He  is  approximately  an  ideal  preacher  who  com- 
bines in  proper  proportion  all  of  the  aforementioned 
traits  of  symmetrical  ministerial  character.  Super- 
lative endowments  at  one  point  can  never  make 
entirely  good  for  deficiencies  in  other  parts.  The 
character  which  is  firm  in  its  foundation  must  be 
equally  fair  in  its  proportions  in  order  to  be  endur- 
ing in  age  and  successful  in  meeting  the  responsibil- 
ities of  life.  The  one-sided  giant  with  his  ephemeral 
flashes  of  genius  is  likely  to  prove  an  abortion.  The 
study  of  the  pulpit,  the  preparation  and  the  perform- 
ance, the  sow^ing  of  the  seed,  the  cultivation  of  the 
growing  crop  and  the  reaping  of  the  harvest  are 
parts  of  one  comprehensive  whole  in  the  exercise  of 
all  the  functions  of  the  ministerial  office. 

Omitting  from  our  present  consideration  those 
functions  which  belong  more  properly  to  pastoral 
oversight  and  care  of  the  flock,  we  come  now  to 
inquire  after  the  minister 's  duty  as  a  preacher.  These 
consist  in  the  preparation  and  proclamation  of  the 
message  from  God  to  man.  With  more  grace  and  less 
guile  the  preacher  may  say  to  his  people  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Ehud  to  Eglon:  (Judges  3:20)  ''I  have  a 
message  from  God  unto  thee. ' '  The  substance  of  his 
message  is  in  the  Bible,  the  specific  preparation  is  in 
the  closet  and  the  library,  the  proclamation  is  in  the 
pulpit,  and,  sad  to  relate,  the  terminal  point  of  its 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  177 

power  is  too  generally  in  the  pew  rather  than  in  the 
fruits  of  repentance,  unfeigned  faith,  holy  hearts, 
happy  homes  and  a  blessed  immortality  running 
parallel  with  the  unfolding  cycles  of  eternity. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  a  minister's  prep- 
aration in  his  study  should  be  made  and  preserved 
in  manuscript  form.  It  helps  him  to  become  precise 
in  his  public  utterances,  and  will  serve  to  remind 
him  in  after  years  how  little  he  knew  in  the  earlier 
periods  of  his  ministery.  The  wisdom  of  reading 
sermons  from  the  pulpit  is,  however,  a  mooted  and 
unsettled  question.  It  will  be  different  with  you 
when  you  become  professors  of  theology,  for  then 
you  will  be  confronted  with  infallible  critics;  but 
reading  sermons  is  not  the  ideal  manner  of  pro- 
claiming the  gospel  to  an  audience  of  dying  men. 
It  limits  the  proper  freedom  of  the  messenger,  and 
puts  the  audience  beyond  the  piercing  power  of  the 
orator's  eye.  It  handicaps  his  free  gesticulation  and 
makes  him  appear 

"Like  a  bird  with  beauties  half  concealed 
Till  mounted  on  the  wing,  its  glossy  plume  expands." 

Young  Gentlemen :  Would  you  become  ideal 
preachers  with  power  to  convince  an  audience  of  sin, 
of  righteousness  and  a  judgment  to  come,  write  your 
sermons  at  the  beginning  of  your  ministery,  but 
gradually  do  away  with  that  method  of  preparation 
as  you  find  yourselves  able  to  think  while  standing 
upon  your  feet  before  an  audience — even  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  world's  great  potentates.  It  shall  be  told 
you  in  that  same  hour  what  ye  ought  to  speak.    God 

12 


178  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

will  be  your  sufficiency  and  your  exceeding  great 
reward  in  the  exact  proportion  that  you  put  yourself 
in  right  relation  to  him  and  to  everything  within  the 
proper  compass  of  your  ministerial  environments. 
Therefore  "quit  you  like  men."  "Be  strong  in  the 
Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his  might." 

Such  pulpit  strength  cannot  be  dissociated  from 
proper  gravity.  Hear  and  heed  the  exhortation  of 
St.  Paul  to  Timothy:  A  bishop,  like  the  deacons, 
should  be  blameless,  sober  and  grave.  The  sacred 
rostrum  is  not  the  proper  place  for  wit.  If  the  preach- 
er should  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  such  a  spasm, 
let  it  be,  like  the  itch,  the  result  of  spontaneous 
eruption.  And  don't  forget  that  each  minister  should 
become  the  husband  of  one  wife — soon  after  his  grad- 
uation from  the  seminary.  Cultivate  a  reverential 
intimacy  with  heaven,  and  a  familiarity  with  the 
forces  and  laws  of  the  heavenly  world.  Remember 
that  though  you  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels, 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  is  in  the  gospel 
itself,  rather  than  in  any  of  its  necessary  accompani- 
ments. Yet  do  not  depend  upon  the  gospel  to  do 
marvelous  things  unless  it  be  properly  proclaimed 
in  due  manner,  with  its  heaven-ordained  means.  Even 
earthen  pitchers  may  be  used  for  the  overthrow  of 
the  Midianites  when  such  pitchers  have  within  them 
the  torches  of  everlasting  truth.  All  must  be  kept 
in  subordination  to  God's  will  and  in  subserviency 
to  his  cause.  With  such  assuring  confidence  in  God, 
and  such  determination  to  recognize  Christ  as  all  in 
all,  you  may  go  to  battle  with  the  whole  array  of  evil 
principalities  and  powers  under  the  New  Testament 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  179 

watchword:  ''The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon." 
Halleluiah !  ' '  The  Lord  God,  omnipotent  reigneth. ' ' 
Paul  could  never  have  made  Felix  tremble  if  he  had 
been  fortified  behind  a  quire  of  foolscap.  Stand  out  in 
the  open.  Dash  your  empty  pitchers  to  pieces;  cast 
the  fragments  to  the  junk  pile ;  toss  your  manuscripts 
into  the  waste  basket,  and  fill  yourselves  with  light 
from  the  upper  clouds.  Then  let  the  pealing  thun- 
ders roll,  with  lightning  flashes  from  your  soul. 


180  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 


LECTURE   XII 

The  Ideal  Undershepherd 's  Relation  to  the 
Lambs  of  the  Flock 

In  this  course  of  lectures  now  about  to  be  brought 
to  a  close,  it  was  intended  to  set  forth  the  ideal  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  in  all  his  essential  relations  to 
God  and  to  the  work  which  the  Father  had  given  him 
to  do.  The  last  discourse  treated  of  the  proper  or 
artful  manner  of  expressing  his  thoughts,  his  senti- 
ments and  his  purpose  in  the  exercise  of  his  minister- 
ial functions ;  that  art  is  not  something  to  be  added  to 
the  gospel,  as  to  its  real  essence,  but  one  of  the  means 
by  which  the  gospel  may  have  free  course  and  be 
glorified  as  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation ;  that 
its  mission  is  to  wreath  the  altar  of  the  Most  High 
with  garlands  of  ethical  beauty,  and  to  give  the  pul- 
pit of  the  sanctuary  its  own  proper  setting  in  the 
strength  of  symmetry;  that  while  it  is  proper  and 
imperative  for  young  ministers  to  cultivate  literary 
precision  of  expression  by  writing  their  sermons  before 
going  to  the  pulpit,  it  is  not  advisable  for  them  to  con- 
tinue in  this  manner  of  sermonic  preparation ;  that  in 
the  delivery  of  the  sermon,  a  few  natural  and  spon- 
taneous gesticulations  should  banish  all  studied  man- 
nerisms from  the  sacred  rostrum. 

Next  to  the  duty  of  evangelical  teaching  is  the 
exercising  of  the  pastoral  function  in  the  ministerial 
office.     This  function  is  one  that  may  not  be  over- 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  181 

looked  or  surrendered  entirely  to  others,  by  those 
who  have  the  oversight  of  the  entire  flock.  When 
the  Great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep  ascended  up  on  high 
"that  he  might  fill  all  things,  he  gave  some  pastors" 
as  well  as  "teachers;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  sanctifying  of 
the  (whole)  body  of  Christ,  until  we  all  come  to  the 
unity  of  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  and  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ.  That  was  a  sad  inter- 
callary  day  in  the  history  of  American  Protestantism 
when  the  parochial  school  system  and  the  catechisms 
were  measurably  tossed  aside  for  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.'s 
half  fledged  Boys'  Brigades,  religious  leagues,  social 
clubs  and  the  cradle  roll — with  empty  cradles. 

With  that  seemingly  inconsiderate  turn  in  the 
methods  of  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  the 
time-tried  and  more  systematic  study  of  God's  word 
as  set  forth  in  the  ecumenical  catechisms,  by  all  the 
properly  historic  churches  of  Christendom  have  been 
set  aside,  or  their  use  practically  neglected,  to  make 
room  for  modern  evangelism  and  the  International 
Committee  on  Sunday  Schools,  to  skim  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  Bible  and  serve  a  cold  lunch  and  light 
refreshments  to  the  lambs  of  the  flock  and  the  poor 
pitiable  little  kids  on  the  outside  of  the  fold. 

Can  any  intelligent  pastor  give  his  unqualified 
approval  to  such  a  radical  change  in  the  manner  of 
Christian  nurture  under  the  plea  of  modern  methods? 
Can  the  spirit  of  modernism  that  exploits  itself  in 
seemingly  sincere  pretentions,  and  that  now  vapors 
within   the   walls    of   our   half-emptied     sanctuaries 


.182  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  , 

sustain  itself  in  the  coming  hour  of  need  ?  Is  this  what 
Paul  meant  by  feeding  the  babes  on  the  sincere  milk  of 
the  word?  Is  this  the  present  method  of  imparting 
religious  instruction  in  haphazard  fragments  of  script- 
ural knowledge  equivalent  to  what  Paul  meant  when 
he  told  Timothy  to  "feed  the  flock  of  God?"  Is 
such  service  in  fair  and  full  response  to  the  command 
of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  the  bishop  of  souls  when 
he  told  Peter,  as  a  test  of  his  love,  to  feed  his 
"sheep,"  his  "lambs"  and  his  "sheeplets?"  Did 
he  not  address  Peter  in  some  sense  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  church  in  her  maternal  character  for 
all  the  years  of  grace  to  follow  ?  Is  not  the  food  for 
mother  and  children  in  substance  the  same!  Does 
not  the  Word  as  meat  for  the  mother  become  by 
thorough  digestion  the  sincere  milk  for  the  babe? 
Is  not  the  babe  in  the  family  and  fed  before  its  birth  f 
Does  not  such  period  of  gestation  lead  on  and  up  to 
the  reality  of  birth  and  to  the  distinct  individuality 
of  the  newly  born  child?  Should  not  such  child  of 
the  church  be  permitted  to  subsist  upon  the  sincere 
nutriment  necessary  to  its  sufficient  development  up 
to  the  awakening  of  its  consciousness  as  a  distinct 
individual  Christian  upon  its  personal  confession  of 
Christ  as  its  Saviour  at  the  altar  of  confirmation? 
Is  it  not  the  imperative  duty  of  the  pastor  to  see  to  it 
that  the  chidren  of  the  church  are  permitted  and 
so  directed  to  come  into  such  full  inheritance  of  their 
spirtiual  birthright  instead  of  being  tempted  to 
barter  it  away,  as  did  Esau,  for  a  mere  humanistic  or 
socialistic  bowl  of  abominable  bean-soup?  Out  upon 
such  treason  to  the  truth,  and  travesty  in  holy  things ! 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  183 

Grape  juice  piety  may  do  for  a  jellyfish  people; 
but  the  church  needs  a  little  spiritual  wine  for  its 
often  infirmities,  in  order  to  develop  essential  muscle, 
sinew  and  vertebra  all  along  the  spinal  column.  In 
our  day  of  self  glorified  modern  methods  the  radical 
mistake  in  the  teaching  and  general  treatment  of 
the  chiMren  of  the  church  is  the  substitution  of  what 
is  largely  a  mere  training  for  feeding. 

The  great  stress  that  is  now  being  laid  upon  the 
benefits  derived  from  our  common  school  system, 
the  growing  emphasis  now  settling  down  upon  our 
plausible  Sunday  School  work  and  the  popular  relig- 
ious craziness  of  our  Christian  Endeavor  Societies 
would  seem  to  justify  the  discussion  of  the  topic 
now  under  consideration  before  this  theological  stu- 
dent body,  in  order  that  healing  streams  of  influence 
may  go  forth  to  correct  the  wrong  and  confirm  the 
right  in  matters  pretaining  to  the  proper  education  of 
the  young. 

It  is  assumed  that  children  are  capable  of  being 
trained  or  taught,  and  that  they  need  some  mental 
or  moral  discipline  and  nutriment  in  order  to  the 
attainment  of  the  true  dignity  involved  in  their  essent- 
ial nature,  and  the  possibility  of  the  high  and  noble 
destiny  awaiting  them  in  their  great  hereafter ;  in 
other  words,  that  there  is  in  children  according  to 
the  degree  of  their  ethical  development,  either  an 
unconscious  or  an  aching  void  which  this  world  can 
never  fill. 

The  thorough  discussion  of  this  topic  raises  the 
question  as  to  whether  children  are  properly  trained 


184  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

or  cultured  in  nature  or  in  grace;  in  the  wilderness  of 
a  world  alienated  from  God,  or  in  the  garden  of  the 
Lord's  house;  in  the  family  of  the  first  Adam,  who 
is  of  the  earth  earthy,  or  in  the  covenant  of 
the  second  Adam  "the  Lord  from  heaven,  and  the 
quickening  spirit"? 

The  proper  consideration  and  adequate  discussion 
of  this  subject  involves  also  the  inquiry  as  to  whether 
there  are  any  differences  between  the  unconverted 
children  of  the  world,  and  the  consecrated  children 
of  the  church;  whether  there  be  any  difference  in 
attitude  between  those  children  who  are  branches  of 
the  wild  olive  tree,  and  those  who  by  some  ceremon- 
ial or  sacramental  transaction  have  been  planted  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord  making  it  possible  for  them  to 
flourish  in  the  courts  of  our  God  (Ps.  92: 13). 

In  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  we  should  not  be 
unmindful  that  we  are  stepping  upon  debatable 
ground.  But  are  we  not  pardonable  for  this  ven- 
ture if  we  leave  behind  us  the  sandals  of  carnal 
presumption,  and  with  the  torch  of  scriptural  truth 
proceed  to  light  up  and  traverse  the  field  that  opens 
to  our  reverential  tread  and  raptured  vision?  Have 
we  not  something  to  do  with  the  supernatural  ele- 
ments of  the  heavenly  world  and  the  supernatural 
side  of  the  agencies  in  the  economy  of  human  redemp- 
tion ? 

To  change  the  question  and  bring  it  more  directly 
home  to  ourselves  as  ministers  and  as  candidates  for 
the  holy  ministry,  do  we  with  St.  Paul  account  our- 
selves as  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God?     Do  not 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  185 

the  sacraments  which  we  are  authorized  to  administer 
involve  mysterious  elements  from  the  supernatural 
world  or  rather  of  the  supernatural  realm  in  which 
we  have  and  excerice  our  ministry!  Or  do  the  de- 
mands in  this  age  of  boastful  religious  humanism 
place  padlocks  upon  our  lips  in  the  discussion  of  a 
subject  which,  in  our  judgment,  stands  in  logical  rela- 
tion to  the  sacrament  of  holy  baptism  ?  If  so,  let  any 
one  speak,  for  him  have  I  offended.  None?  Then 
none  have  I  offended. 

Can  there  be  any  real  Christian  training  of  the 
child,  in  the  sense  of  Christian  nurture,  entirely  out- 
side of  God's  kingdom  as  embodied  in  the  church 
which  is  Christ's  body,  the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth 
all  in  all?  Does  not  consistency  require  of  us  who 
administer  baptism  to  teach  and  insist  that  in  some 
sense  that  implies  a  transition  or  change  of  the  sub- 
ject thereof  or  of  the  relation  thereof  from  one  realm 
or  condition  of  the  baptized  to  another  realm  or  con- 
dition? Is  there  not  a  growing  dis-position  to  ignore 
the  obvious  teaching  of  scripture,  and  the  command 
of  our  Lord  in  the  apostolic  commission,  and  to  part 
company  with  the  good  and  the  great  of  all  past 
Christian  ages? 

The  question  is  what  is  the  child's  natural  rela- 
tion to  Jesus  Christ,  and  how  can  it  be  brought  into 
such  gracious  relation  to  him  as  to  make  possible  its 
training  in  the  nurture  and  adominition  of  the  Lord  ? 
Is  it  a  Christian  by  natural  birth?  Let  St.  Augus- 
tine again  arise  and  answer  the  pellagianism  of  the 
British  T^Ionk.  That  which  is  bom  of  the  flesh  is 
flesh.     Only  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  sipirit 


186  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

in  sueli  a  sense  as  to  enable  it  to  see  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Except  a  man  be  born  of  the  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
But  it  may  be  claimed  that  an  infant  cannot  be  born 
again  because  it  is  not  a  "man,"  then  neither  can 
a  woman  be  born  again  because  she  is  not  a  man.  Is 
there  controversy  here  ?  Then  let  it  be  with  Him  whom 
even  Nicodemus  recognized  as  a  great  teacher  sent 
from  God.  Nicodemus  could  not  understand  how 
a  man  could  be  born  when  he  is  old.  Some  masters 
in  Israel  now^adays  cannot  understand  how  a  child 
can  be  born  again  when  it  is  young. 

What  is  birth  but  the  rising  of  an  undeveloped 
person  from  a  lower  state  of  being  into  a  higher  realm 
of  continued  existence?  What  is  natural  birth  but 
a  passive  transition  from  the  state  of  gestation  into  a 
state  of  action  in  the  family?  And  what  is  the  birth 
of  "water  and  Spirit"  but  an  equally  real  transi- 
tion into  a  higher  realm  of  ethical  or  religious  being? 
In  either  case  it  involves  the  severing  of  an  umbilic 
cord  that  had  hitherto  bound  the  child  to  the  lower 
realm  of  its  existence  and  its  subsequent  connection 
with  the  higher  realm  of  being  by  more  vital  and 
enduring  ligaments. 

The  terms  "regeneration"  and  "conversion"  are 
frequently  used  interchangably  by  the  common  Chris- 
tian mind,  with  very  little  proper  conception  of  the 
meaning  or  significance  of  either.  My  conception  of 
the  new  birth  or  regeneration  is  that  it  is  that  act 
of  God  in  which  a  human  being  is  born  or  transplanted 
into  a  new  or  higher  realm  of  being ;  while  conversion 
is  more  really  a  change  of  mind  with  reference  to 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  187 

God  and  the   realities   and  requirements  of  religion 
and  the  heavenly  world. 

If  I  was  ever  regenerated  at  all,  it  was  when  I 
was  ingrafted  into  Christ  in  baptism,  which  was 
administered  by  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  which 
the  qreat  apostle  of  Methodism,  John  AVesley,  called 
the  laver  of  regeneration,  and  which  the  Scriptures 
call  the  Avashing  of  regeneration.  And  if  I  have  ever 
been  converted  to  God,  it  was  when  and  as  the  truth 
in  Jesus  led  me  from  error  or  the  carnal  way  of  think- 
ing, to  choose  Christ  as  my  Supreme  Good.  Regenera- 
tion was  God's  act — an  act  in  which  I  was  rather  pas- 
sive than  active.  Conversion  was  more  really  my  own 
act  of  turning  to  him,  though  not  without  the  influ- 
ence of  the  heavenly  world  which  was  brought  to 
bear  upon  me. 

"Conversion"  is  a  term  now  being  juggled  with 
more  than  any  other  word  in  the  religious  vocabulary. 
It  is  used  by  surface-skimmers  in  pietism  to  mean 
anything,  everything  and  nothing.  It  frequentlj^ 
means  nothing  more  than  the  act  of  passing  down  the 
saw-dust  trail  to  the  front  of  the  chancel-rail,  to 
shake  hands  with  some  popular  evangelist ;  and  oh, 
what  a  thrill  of  questionable  experience  such  "con- 
version" must  send  through  the  electrified  anatomy 
of  the  convert,  clear  up  to  the  roof  of  his  imagination  ! 

In  the  full  process  of  redemption  of  the  person, 
so  far  as  such  redemption  can  become  an  actaality 
before  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day,  there  are 
four  distinct,  yet  inseparable  parts  arranging  them- 
selves in  different  orders  of  time  according  to  age 


188  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  . 

and  various  circumstances.  Sometimes  they  overiap 
each  other,  or  intermingle  their  complemental  ele- 
ments like  the  seven  hues  of  the  rainbow  in  order 
to  constitute  one  grand  masterpiece  of  heavenly  art 
in  water  colors  on  the  sky. 

One  order  in  the  arrangement  of  these  several 
elements  according  to  time,  and  especially  applicable 
to  infants,  is  as  follows:  Regeneration,  conversion, 
justification  and  sanctification,  and  these  are  alwys 
to  be  considered  with  each  other.  I  believe  that  in 
my  own  case  regeneration  preceded  conversion.  In 
the  case  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  it  was  probably  the  reverse, 
as  he  was  both  an  intelligent  and  ignorant  persecutor 
of  God's  people,  and  was  to  become  an  especially 
chosen  vessel  to  bear  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  He 
was  converted  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  when,  under 
the  rays  of  supernatural  light  revealed  from  the 
heavenly  world,  the  scales  fell  from  his  blinded 
eyes  and  more  bigoted  intellect.  He  was  subsequently 
regenerated  when  in  obedience  to  the  heavenly  vision 
and  the  command  of  the  minister  in  charge,  he  arose 
and  was  baptized  and  washed  away  his  sins. 

Paul  could  never  forget  that  in  that  sacramental 
transaction  he  received  the  sign  and  seal  of  his  birth 
into  the  family  of  God.  He  did  not  forget  it  when 
he  wrote  to  the  Galatians  (3:27,  "For  as  many  of 
you  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on 
Christ."  He  was  mindful  of  it  when  he  addressed 
the  Christians  at  Rome,  (Rom.  6:3,  4)  "Know  ye 
not  that  so  many  of  us  have  been  baptized  into  Jesus 
Christ  were  batptized  into  his  death?     Therefore,  we 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  189 

are  buried  with  Christ  by  baptism  into  death;  that 
like  as  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory 
of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  the  new- 
ness of  life."  He  remembered  it  when  he  wrote  to 
Titus,  (3:5)  "According  to  his  mercy  he  saved  us 
by  the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  renewing  of 
the  Holy  Ghost."  So  with  St.  Peter  in  Chapter  3:21: 
"The  like  figure  whereunto,  even  baptism  doth  also 
now  save  us  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ." 
So  does  Dr.  J.  H.  A.  Bomberger,  on  the  Regeneration 
of  Infants,  page  180:  "The  Lord  chooses  to  connect 
with  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  properly  administered, 
the  formal  official  washing  away  of  the  stain  of 
original  sin  from  the  infant  heart. "  .  .  .  .  ' '  The 
germ  of  a  new  life  is  thus  planted  in  the  soul  of  the 
child."  It  was  not  forgotten  by  the  Reformed 
Church  in  the  U.  S.  when  it  adopted  its  Directory  of 
Worship,  as  on  page  103,  it  encourages  Christian  par- 
ents to  "believe  that  their  Heavenly  Father,  in  the 
sacrament  of  baptism,  receives  their  children,  and 
seals  to  them  the  remission  of  sins,  and  the  gift  of 
a  new  and  spiritual  life." 

Justification  and  sanctification  are  as  logically 
related  to  each  other  as  regeneration  and  conversion 
are  inseparable,  while  all  of  them  are  distinct  parts 
of  an  organic  whole.  God  has  joined  them  together. 
No  good  theologian — no  ideal  preacher  will  put  them 
asunder.  If  we  are  either  regenerated  or  converted, 
the  complemental  part  will  in  due  time  appear,  except 
where  there  is  a  miscarriage.  So  too,  "if  we  con- 
fess our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us 
our  sins,  and  to  cleame  us  from  unrighteousness." 


190  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

There  can  be  no  genuine,  forensic  absolution  absolute- 
ly unaccompanied  with  an  ablution. 

These  four  parts,  while  thus  correlated  with  each 
other  must  also  stand  vitally  related  to  Jesus  Christ 
the  foundation  stone  of  man's  salvation,  and  the 
keystone  in  the  arch  of  his  everlasting  hope.  ' '  With- 
out me  ye  can  do  nothing."  Speaking  more  specific- 
ally, regeneration  grounds  itself  in  the  life  of  Christ. 
' '  If  when  we  were  enemies  we  were  reconciled  to  God 
by  the  death  of  his  Son,  much  more,  being  reconciled 
we  shall  be  saved  by  his  life. "  "He  that  hath  the  Son 
hath  life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  hath  not  life." 
Justification  rests  in  an  impartation  to  us  of  the  right- 
eoiiness  of  Christ.  "The  Lord  our  righteousness." 
Santification  comes  to  us  from  the  lioliness  of  Christ. 
Paul  says  that  he  is  "made  unto  us  sanctification. " 
So  also  our  conversion  is  consequent  upon  the  tyuth 
of  Christ.  He  proclaims  himself  the  truth,  and  that 
whomsoever  the  truth  maketh  free  from  error  and 
from  self  shall  be  free  indeed. 

Truth,  however,  in  the  gospel  sense  is  more  than 
the  correctness  of  an  abstract  proposition.  It  is  a 
concrete  essence  in  the  incarnate  God,  and  in  such 
relation  to  his  person  that  no  one  can  possess  and  be 
saved  thereby  without  a  vital  relation  to  the  Fountain 
thereof.  It  is  identical  with  the  Word  made  flesh. 
"Thy  word  is  the  truth."  "The  words  that  I  speak 
unto  you,"  said  Christ,  "they  are  Spirit  and  they 
are  life." 

A  living  church  has  very  little  to  do  with  the  truth 
in  the  abstract,  but  rather  with  the  truth  incarnate 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  191 

and  concrete.  The  mathematician  must  deal  with  ab- 
stract truths  until  he  comes  to  teach  applied  mathe- 
matics, but  ministers  of  the  gospel  must  study,  acquire, 
incorporate  and  proclaim  the  truth  as  clothed  upon  in 
the  incarnate  mystery  of  Bethlehem  and  Calvary. 
No  mere  doctrinal  body  of  divinity  will  meet  the 
case  in  Soteriology.  In  the  body  of  Christ  all  the 
bones  articulate  themselves  with  the  synovia  which 
every  joint  supplieth,  with  flesh  upon  the  bones,  arter- 
ies in  the  flesh,  blood  in  the  arteries,  corpuscles  in  the 
blood,  life  in  the  corpuscles,  power  in  the  life,  and 
glory  in  the  power,  even  the  life  and  power  and  glory 
of  Mary's  first  born  Son  the  eternal  Son  of  God. 

This  brings  us  to  our  subject  proper — The  Train- 
ing and  Feeding  of  Children.  First  of  all,  the  child 
needs  more  than  training.  A  dog  can  be  trained,  yet 
even  he  seeks  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  the  master's 
table.  The  ox  can  be  trained,  yet  even  he  seeks  an 
acquaintance  with  the  master's  crib.  The  child  needs 
more.  It  needs  to  be  fed.  It  needs  to  be  nourished 
upon  the  nutrient  principle  of  the  divine  Word. 
*'Feed  my  lambs."  said  the  great  Shepherd.  You 
cannot  change  the  child's  nature  by  mere  training; 
and  if  you  could  thus  change  its  nature,  you  could 
not  thus  nourish  it  into  everlasting  life  as  it  passes 
beyond  the  period  of  adolescence.  You  cannot  train 
a  toad  to  become  a  proper  associate  for  your  children. 
Brethern ;  Let  us  not  forget  the  language  of  our 
commission.  The  promise  is  unto  us  and  to  our 
children. 

But  we  are  rightly  to  divide  the  word  between 
the  two  great  general  classes  to  whom  we  have  to 


192  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

minister.  We  may  not  liken  the  children  in  Chris- 
tian civilization,  yet  out  of  the  covenent,  as  our  Lord 
did  the  heathen,  to  dogs,  although  we  may  distinguish 
between  the  lambs  and  the  kids.  The  one  class  may 
be  likened  to  Simeon  and  Anna,  waiting,  watching 
and  worshiping  in  the  temple  for  the  coming  of  the 
Lord's  Christ.  These  represent  the  children  in  the 
church  who  have  been  planted  by  baptism  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord  making  it  more  easy  for  them  to 
''flourish  in  the  courts  of  our  God."  The  other  class 
is  represented  by  those  aliens  from  the  common- 
wealth of  Israel,  who  upon  seeing  the  Star  of  Beth- 
lehem in  the  hazy  distance,  came  to  Jerusalem  saying, 
"Where  is  he  that  is  born  King  of  the  Jews,  for  we 
have  come  to  worship  him." 

These  two  classes,  whether  old  or  young,  should 
be  fed,  should  all  be  fed  on  the  Word,  according  to 
their  respective  relations  to  the  Personal  Fountain 
of  all  truth.  This  proper  distinction  is  not  invid- 
ious. In  the  covenent  of  God  there  are  some  things 
too  hoi}/  to  be  cast  unto  those  who  are  on  the  outside. 
For  this  reason  the  impartation  of  knowledge,  as  is 
sometimes  the  case  in  our  Sunday  Schools,  is  more 
hurtful  than  helpful.  A  general  and  indiscriminate 
scattering  and  smattering  of  irrelevent  knowledge  is 
the  fruitful  source  of  genuine  ignorance  in  matters 
that  pertain  to  God 's  kingdom  in  the  world. 

True,  the  uncovenanted  children  of  our  heathen 
near  our  sanctuaries,  and  the  children  of  the  church 
may  be  tought  or  trained  to  a  certain  extent  in  the 
same  way,  upon  the  same  gospel  truth,  provided  there 
is  that   proper  distinction   and   discernment   on   the 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  193 

part  of  the  teacher  who  so  divides  the  Word  in  such 
a  way  as  to  adapt  it  to  each  one's  peculiar  necessities, 
and  by  so  doing  prove  himself  a  workman  that  needeth 
not  to  be  ashamed  of  his  workmanship  before  God. 

But  who  are  to  teach  and  to  train  the  children  ?  In 
what  school  are  they  to  be  disciplined  in  order  that 
they  may  round  out  their  ransomed  personalities  in 
the  strength  and  beauty  of  symmetrical  wholeness, 
graduate  in  God's  great  ethical  university  and  receive 
their  diplomas  from  the  hand  of  the  great  Teacher 
sent  for  God?  Dr.  Schaff  said  that  the  curriculm 
should  run  all  the  way  through  the  family,  the  school 
and  the  church. 

First  of  all  the  family  should  do  the  training. 
This  is  the  child's  native  element  and  ought  to  be  its 
most  fertile  soil;  and  here  ought  to  find  its  most 
salubrious  atmosphere.  In  the  families  such  expec- 
tations do  not  perish  from  the  earth.  Such  homes  are 
the  germs  of  Christian^  beauty,  the  cradles  of  Christian 
virtue  and  the  foretastes  of  all  that  heaven  can  hold. 
From  the  training  received  in  such  domestic  sanctu- 
aries come  those  strong  and  influential  characters 
which  make  their  beneficial  impress  upon  the  world 
and  help  the  children  of  the  world  to  come  into  the 
church,  and  thus  reach  their  home  beyond  the  stars. 

But  what  is  the  average  family  now  doing  in  the 
way  of  such  training  of  the  children  and  bringing 
them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord? 
Many  of  them  glorify  the  Sunday  School  cradle-roll 
while  they  have  no  cradles  at  home,  and  consequently 
no  children  to  train.  Instead  of  babes,  false  mothers 
are  pressing  poodles  to  their  throbbing  hearts,  and 

13 


194  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

many  fathers  are  so  constantly  engaged  in  business 
as  to  have  no  time  for  the  exeercise  of  the  duties 
which  are  included  in  their  bill  of  chartered  rights 
by  virtue  of  their  domestic  priesthood. 

Besides,  we  are  living  in  an  age  of  masculine 
femininity  and  effeminate  masculinity.  Many  mothers 
are  away  from  home  in  the  leagues  trying  to  legis- 
late for  the  rescue  of  other  people's  children,  while 
their  own  are  negelected,  and  permitted  and  obliged 
to  grow  up  in  the  world —  as  many  of  them  manage 
to  get  into  the  world — by  accident.  Pleasure  seeking 
is  the  passion-play  of  the  social  stage.  Progressive 
pedro  and  retogressive  religion  are  moving  hand  in 
hand.  Great  heavens !  Is  the  kingdom  of  God  coming 
in  hobble  skirts? 

No  wonder  that  some  of  our  old-fashioned  Chris- 
tians are  falling  upon  their  rustic  knees  in  despond- 
ency, while  their  tears  fall  down  their  prayers  go  up  to 
heaven : 

When  wilt  thou  save  the  children,  O  God  of  mercy  when, 
From  crime  and  filth  and  vagrancy  in  homes  of  godless  men? 
Shall  hell  breed  vice  forever,  and  misery  prolong 
While  mothers  gay,  for  boobies  play,  and  sing  their  siren  song? 

No  say  the  mountains.  No,  the  skies 

A  cloudless  sun  shall  yet  arise 

And  shouts  ascend  instead  of  sighs — 
When  mothers  train  their  children  well 
In  homes  where  Christ  is  pleased  to  dwell. 

The  Sunday  School  as  now  constituted  and  oper- 
ated, though  it  may  not  be  discarded,  cannot  be  de- 
pended upon  to  do  the  work  of  training  the  children 
in  such  a  way  as  to  equip  them  to  solve  the  problem  of 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  195 

human  life  here  and  hereafter.  Why?  Because  the 
Sunday  School  cannot  arise  above  the  religious  level 
of  the  families  from  which  it  is  supplied  with  teachers. 
The  qualifications  of  these  teachers  are  too  generally 
inadequate.  Charitably  conceding  that  in  moral  char- 
acter they  are  above  reproach,  they  are  nevertheless, 
too  generally  deficient  in  an  adequate  knowledge  of 
the  Bible  and  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

We  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  required  by  our 
respective  churches  to  spend  three  years  in  college 
and  a  number  of  years  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
and  then  undergo  a  rigid  examination  before  we  are 
licensed  and  ordained  to  preach  the  gospel  to  a 
dying  world;  and  even  then  we  are  required  to  go 
to  the  classes  annually  and  have  our  work  attested 
and  our  characters  vouched  for.  Yet  in  the  Sunday 
School  the  children  and  the  training  of  the  children 
are  placed  in  the  care  of  teachers  who  are  too  often 
incompetent  and  unqualified  for  the  responsible  posi- 
tions. They  have  never  read  the  Bible  through,  they 
have  no  proper  conception  of  the  Christian  system, 
they  do  not  know  the  ten  commandments.  Besides 
the  order  of  Bible  study  is  unsystematic  and  without 
any  reference  to  the  pericopes  or  church  year  as  it 
has  been  observed  through  all  past  ages,  and  as  it 
is  yet  observed  in  all  the  more  historic  churches  of 
Christendom.  If  our  public  schools  were  conducted 
with  as  little  regard  for  order  and  system  in  study, 
the  whole  scholastic  monstrosity  would  be  laughed  out 
of  ountenance.  Science  is  knowledge  systematized,  and 
the  natural  sciences  must  be  taught  in  a  methodical 


196  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

way;  yet  Christianity,  the  queen  of  all  sciences  when 
properly  apprehended,  is  too  generally  taught  in  our 
Sunday  Schools  in  a  haphazard  way ;  and  still  we 
expect  the  children  so  taught  to  come  into  our 
churches  as  symmetrical  Christians.  Out  upon  such 
travesty !  No  wonder  that  they  are  liable  to  be  blown 
about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  and  every  doctrine 
of  wdnd,  whether  blown  by  Mrs.  Eddy,  Mrs.  Blavat- 
sky,  John  A.  Dowie,  the  Millennial  Dawm,  the  specu- 
lar nonsense  of  modern  pulpit  jumping  jacks,  the 
ephemeral  sensation  alism  of  self  constituted  evangel- 
ists, helpless  humanism  or  the  popular  counterfeit  of 
Christianity  known  as  mere  social  religiousness. 

Yet,  brethern,  there  is  a  brighter  side  to  this  im- 
portant question.    Therefore 

We  pause  and  take  a  rosier  view, 

Well  justified  by  faith  and  facts, 

By  loyal  hearts,  all  good  and  true, 

By  kindness  well  embalmed  in  acts, 
By  mute  and  modest  charity 
And  unproclaimed  philanthropy. 

Yes  we  behold,  and  even  now. 

Millions  who'd  take  the  thorny  crown 

From  off  the  great  Messiah's  brow 

And  let  it  lacerate  their  own. 
Alen  of  Gyrene,  though  suffering  loss. 
Would  bear  for  Him  His  heavy  cross ; 

Marys,  who  worship  at  his  feet 
And  choose  Him  as  their  better  part ; 
Marthas  who  serve  to  give  Him  meat 
And  serve  Him  with  unfeigned  heart, 

Great  deeds  perform  with  small  regard 

To  their  most  logical  reward. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  197 

There're  saints  enough  in  Sodom's  vale 
To  save  the  world  from  early  doom ; 
And  if  their  alms  and  prayers  prevail, 
Thej^'ll  cause  the  wilderness  to  bloom 

More  beautiful  than  Eden's  bowers, 

More  fragrant  than  its  rarest  flowers. 

Children,  there  are,  like  David's  Son 

Who  seek  to  hear  a  Father's  word. 

And  Samuel  whose  young  life  begun 

Inquiring  for  a  mother's  Lord. 
Children  in  Christian  nurture  found 
To  be  through  grace  in  glory  crowned. 

Then  let  us  back  with  them  to  the  more  plain 
and  pure  and  primitive  piety — Back  to  Christ  and 
his  old  wooden  cross — Back  to  the  spirit  of  early 
martyrdom — Back  to  the  more  faithful  teaching  of 
the  Word — Back,  if  necessary  to  the  parochial  school 
system — Back  to  catechization — Back  to  the  pulpits 
of  Basil,  Chrysostom,  Savanarola,  Luther,  Zwingli  and 
John  Wesley.  The  sacraments  must  be  held,  as  insti- 
tuted, to  sign  and  seal  covenant  grace,  and  the  pulpit 
as  the  Gibraltar  of  Protestant  and  positive  truth. 
Therefore,  let  us  insist  upon  it  that  the  space  behind 
the  chancel  rail  is  too  sacred  to  be  occupied  by  the 
presence  of  the  pietistic  and  popular  clown.  They 
should  be  intelligent,  reverent  and  holy  who  bear  the 
vessels  of  the  Lord.  With  such  pastors  in  our  parishes 
and  such  preachers  in  our  pulpits,  our  people  will 
no  longer  be  fed  on  a  feast  of  empty  generalities, 
and  our  children  starved  to  death  by  cowardly 
evasions  of  sacramental  truth. 

Then,  and  not  until  then  shall  we  be  able  to  give 
our  children  their  first  valuable  lessons  in  religious 


198  .         THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

training  and  teach  them  to  come  with  reverence  and 
humilty  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  also  teach  this 
naughty  world  to  bow  with  more  reverence  and  re- 
spect before  the  superlative  majesty  of  the  Christian 
church. 

As  shepherds  kept  their  watch  of  old, 
While  angels  warbled  on  the  wing, 
And  chanted  God's  good  will  to  man, 
So  let  them  now  their  vigils  hold. 
And  feed  the  flock,  and  guard  the  fold, 
And  Gloria  in  Excelsis  sing. 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  199 


LECTURE  XIII 

The  Ideal  Preacher  as  an  Evangelist 

Hitherto,  in  the  volume  of  this  book,  we  have 
considered  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  in  his  more 
immediate  and  intimate  relation  to  the  church  in 
which  he  has  been  set  apart  from  the  more  secular 
side  of  the  world,  by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery,  as  an  under  Shep- 
herd and  overseer  in  the  office  of  a  bishop.  We  have 
seen  him  in  that  class  of  called  and  consecrated  men 
to  whom  have  been  committed  the  oracles  of  God, 
the  administers  of  the  sacraments,  the  living  direct- 
ories of  Christian  worship,  and,  under  Christ,  having 
charge  and  general  "care  of  all  the  churches."  We 
have  noted  his  authority  as  from  above;  we  have 
examined  his  motive  as  that  incentive  which  moves 
him  to  choice  and  action  from  w4thin;  we  have  in- 
quired after  the  nature  of  his  message;  we  have 
glanced  at  the  scope  and  limitations  of  his  mission; 
we  have  traversed  the  field  of  his  proper  ministerial 
activity;  we  have  heard  him  sound  the  central  key- 
note of  his  theme  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand;  we  have  watched  him  buttress  his  position 
with  quotations  from  the  word  of  God  which  endureth 
forever;  we  have  admired  him  as  a  Christian  philos- 
opher; we  have  approved  of  his  course  in  the  use 
of  the  pericopes,  and  in  his  free  observance  of  the 
church  year ;  we  have  tried  to  imitate  him  as  he  sought 
to   catch   a  heavenly   vision;   we   have   admired   his 


200  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

loyalty  and  obedience  to  the  Chief  Shepherd  in  feed- 
ing the  whole  flock  of  God. 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  Christian  minister 
in  the  character  of  an  evangelist,  and  the  duties  he 
is  expected  to  discharge  in  the  exercise  of  that  dis- 
tinct yet  inseparable  function  of  his  holy  office.  An 
evangelist  is  not  necessarily  a  preacher  or  teacher 
separate,  distinct  and  essentially  different  from  an 
apostle,  a  prophet,  a  pastor  or  an  ambassador  of 
Christ,  given  by  the  ascended  Lord  for  the  "perfect- 
ing of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  and 
for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ."  When  Tim- 
othy was  ordained  and  qualified  for  the  Christian 
ministry,  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presby- 
tery he  was  invested  and  enriched  with  all  the 
charisma,  gifts  or  functions  of  a  fully  authorized  pres- 
byter or  bishop.  Hence  Paul  charged  him  to  ''do  the 
work  of  an  evangelist. ' '  The  function  or  calling  of  an 
evangelist  is  ordinarily  included  in  the  general  office 
of  one  ordained  to  be  a  steward  of  the  mysteries  of 
God.  Such  authority  or  power  does  not  come  to  a 
preacher  as  something  ah  extra  or  different  in  kind, 
although  some  men  may  have  peculiar  talents  above 
others  for  the  exercising  of  certain  functions  of  the 
holy  ministery. 

The  modern  mind,  in  its  dizzy  whirl  of  super- 
lative religiousness,  seems  to  be  somewhat  out  of 
agreement  with  itself  as  to  just  what  constitutes  an 
evangelist.  Much  depends  upon  the  view-point  from 
which  he  is  seen  and  sized  up — or  down.  It  is  possible 
that  the   contending  progressives  and   conservatives 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  201 

may  look  upon  and  magnify  different  sides  of  his 
multiform  character.  Upon  one  point,  however,  all 
devout  study  of  Church  history  must  come  to  an 
agreement.  Every  age  of  Christendom  has  had  evan- 
gelists. From  the  day  of  the  great  Prince  of  Peachers 
doT\Ti  to  the  present  time  the  world  has  been  chal- 
lenged with  written  and  spoken  proclamations  of 
evangelic  truth.  The  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
record  of  revelation  were  Evangelists.  Phillip  was 
an  evangelist  riding  in  the  Ethiopean's  touring  char- 
iot. Saint  Basil  and  Savonarola  were  evangelists 
Luther.  Zwingli,  Calvin  and  Whitefield  were  evan- 
gelists. Every  true  preacher  of  the  Gospel  is  an 
evangelist.  They  are  all  ''accounted  as  ministers  of 
Christ"  (Cor.  4:1). 

The  present  day  religious  specialist  is  not  so  easily 
detined.  In  the  grammar  of  modern  parlance  and 
faL^e  syntax  he  is  parsed  as  a  very  popular,  perpen- 
dicular pronoun,  of  the  very  fii^t  person,  a  very  sing- 
ular number,  uncommon  gender  and  a  quite  question- 
able case,  capitalized,  commercialized,  apotheosized 
and  idolized — by  every  lazy  preacher  and  many  spas- 
modic religionists. 

The  state  of  religion  in  the  first  few  decades  of 
the  twentieth  century  is  such  as  to  cause  great  ' '  per- 
plexity of  nations"  and  individuals  in  Christendom 
This  painful  agitation  of  mind  is  most  distracting 
and  distressing  in  Christian  men  and  women  who 
are  constitutionally  averse  to  floating  with  the  pop- 
ular current  of  superfical  thoughtlessness.  For  some 
reason,  however,  there  are  some  men  and  women  in 


202  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

the  church  whose  faith,  intelligence  and  loyalty  to  the 
eternal  tenents  of  the  absolute  religion  as  not  to  be 
blown  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine  and  every 
doctrine  of  wind.  They  are  disposed  to  indulge  in 
a  little  sober  reflection,  pious  meditation  and  thought- 
ful deliberation  before  they  are  ready  to  make  a  rad- 
ical departure  from  the  creeds  and  customs  of  the 
past.  They  are  more  anxious  to  prove  old  things 
anew  than  they  are  to  accredit  some  new  things 
as  true.  Hence  they  are  impelled  to  take  to  their 
spiritual  intellectual  diving  bells  and  plunge  toward 
the  bottom  of  the  great  ocean  of  God's  revelation  to 
man,  and  bring  up  those  deep  and  unchangeable 
principles  and  facts  of  our  whole  religion  which  are 
never  found  floating  upon  the  surface  of  shallow 
religious  mud-puddles. 

This  class  of  meditative  Christians  are  now  having 
their  faith  severely  tested.  They  wish  to  be  up-to- 
date,  but  are  not  really  sure  that  the  date  is  alto- 
gether right.  They  desire  to  be  in  the  procession  of 
"Animated  progressives,"  but  a  little  uncertain 
as  to  the  anima  of  their  movement.  ''The  voice  is 
Jacob's  voice,  but  the  hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau." 
They  are  anxious  that  the  blessing  should  be  properly 
bestowed  that  they  may  stand  in  the  proper  line  of  in- 
heritance, and  to  win  souls  for  Christ,  but  they  would 
not  sacrifice  a  principle  to  save  a  soul,  since  principles 
are  eternal,  while  souls  are  only  immortal.  With 
Paul  they  are  willing  to  be  all  things  for  all  men  and 
yet  for  the  same  reason  they  desire  to  see  all  things 
done  decently  and  in  order,  ''as  in  all  the  Churches 
of  the  Saints." 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  203 

In  his  ''straight  between  two"  what  is  the  eon- 
sertive,  conscientious  and  consistent  minister  to  do? 
Is  he  justified  in  holding'  that  distinction  between 
old  principles  and  modern  paths  old  Creeds  and  mod- 
ern customs  is  so  narrow  and  unreal  as  to  abandon  the 
old  with  all  their  sacred  associations,  and  adopt  the 
new  meandering  paths  of  modern  methods  and  miser- 
able religious  mummeries?  Will  his  conscience  give 
him  rest  if  he  should  conclude  to  eliminate  the  element 
of  perplexity  from  the  problem  and  undertake  its 
solution  in  an  attitude  of  indifference  toward  the 
tremendous  question  with  which  he  finds  himself  con- 
fronted? May  he,  like  Pilate  the  great  example  of 
ethical  cowardice,  wash  his  hands  in  the  lavatory  of 
affected  innocence?  Is  he  to  proclaim  two  Evangels 
of  glad  tidings,  the  one  for  the  Church  of  highly 
polished  religious  decorum  and  the  other  in  the  tab- 
ernacle of  unconventional  utterance,  and  pitable 
buffoonery  ?  The  writer  cannot  answer  all  these  ques- 
tions to  his  own  entire  satisfaction,  and  it  would  be 
unpardonable  presumption  for  him  to  undertake  and 
answer  for  others.  With  Saul  of  Tarsus  he  can  only 
pray:  "Lord  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do?"  There 
is  at  present  but  one  thing  distinctly  clear  to  his 
mind.  The  harvest  of  the  Earth  is  getting  ripe,  and 
the  ideal  preacher  will  in  some  place  and  manner 
reach  forth  his  sickel  to  reap  the  whitening  fields. 

Even  though  Christendom  should  become  a  bed- 
lam of  conflict  and  confusion.  Such  a  state  of  things 
would  rather  emphasize  the  authority  of  the  apostolic 
commission.  '^Go  ye  therefore' '  would  be  accentuated 
with   a   renewed   imperative.      The   conflict   can   not 


204  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

be  more  than  a  temporary  squall  upon  the  troubled 
waters  of  the  Mititiant  Church.  What  is  the  ambas- 
sador of  Christ  for  if  it  is  not  his  calling  to  be  a 
co-worker  with  him  in  calming  the  storms  on  the 
world's  troubled  Galilee?  While  we  are  engaged 
with  Christ  in  our  co-operative  efforts  to  calm  the 
tempest  we  will  find  the  tempest  itself  an  occasion 
to  gather  new  schools  of  fish  from  the  turbulant 
waters.  Much  depends  upon  a  disposition  to  ' '  cast  the 
net  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship.  We  need  not  stultify 
ourselves  or  compromise  our  orthodoxy.  We  may 
make  straight  paths  for  our  feet  without  putting  a 
straight- jacket  upon  our  unreasonable  narrow  con- 
servatism. The  old  Ship  Zion  was  chartered  once 
and  once  for  all  for  the  rescue  of  all  in  this  perishing 
world.  If  questionable  modern  methods  and  modern 
religious  travesties  have  no  other  elements  of  value, 
they  at  least  signify  the  indisputable  fact  that  the 
world  is  beginning  to  realize  its  condition  of  helpless- 
ness and  hopelessness  without  the  Christian  religion. 
The  social  problem  of  the  world  is  now  knocking 
at  the  door  of  the  church  and  the  doors  of  all  Chris- 
tian ministers.  As  never  before,  the  religious  and 
irreligious  of  fallen  humanity  are  calling  in  the  dark 
for  help  from  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  Christendom. 
The  call  carries  with  it  a  tacit  acknowledgement  that 
permanent  help  can  come  only  from  Christianity — 
the  Absolute  religion,  the  highest  form  of  humanity 
and  the  only  source  of  adequate  remedial  power  for 
all  the  ills  now  afflicting  the  family  of  man.  That 
call  from  the  world  for  the  solution  of  its  social  prob- 
lem and  the  healing  of  its  social  infirmities  is  such 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  205 

as  to  demand  attention.  It  may  not  be  ignored.  The 
answer  must  be  in  a  soverign  balm  sufficiently  cura- 
tive and  tonic  to  enable  humanity  to  attain  its  true 
dignity  and  reach  its  proper  destiny.  Though  perhaps 
only  partially  conscious  of  the  deep  necessities  in  the 
case  its  appeal  is  for  help  from  the  church.  The 
ministry  of  Christ  is  ordained  to  occupy  the  highest 
and  most  favorable  position  upon  the  watch-tower 
of  Zion,  to  flash  the  light  of  hope  and  Salvation  to 
the  bewildered  masses  that  now  throng  the  dark  and 
dangerous  pathways  of  Mount  Seir.  True  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  will  hear  the  earnest  call  from  the 
World 's  dismal  Dumah  and  govern  themselves  accord- 
ingly. Others  had  better  surrender  their  false  cre- 
dentials of  authority. 

The  ideal  preacher's  calling  is  to  ''do  good  to  all 
men/'  even  though  the  requirement  is  especially 
applicable  to  "the  household  of  faith."  He  is  to 
have  a  message  for  the  multitude,  as  well  as  food  for 
the  little  flock.  He  is  to  extend  the  invitation  to  all 
who  are  afar  off,  and  to  lay  the  challenge  of  sovereign 
grace  at  the  door  of  every  son  and  daughter  of 
exiled  Adam.  His  churchly  dignity  will  not  hin- 
der him  from  giving  proper  heed  to  these  Macedonian 
cries.  He  can  do  so  without  any  compromise  of  his 
ministerial  honor.  He  need  not  fly  off  the  handle  of 
his  Apostolic  Commission  under  the  whirling  of  cen- 
trifugal and  eccentric  forces  so  much  in  evidence  in 
the  wild  religious  and  humanitarian  movements  of  the 
present  age.  And  while  he  is  giving  proper  attention 
to  these  calls  from  the  perishing  multitude  he  need  not 
fail  to  "behave  himself  in  the  house  of  God  which  is 


206  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

the  church  of  the  living  God,  the  ground  and  pillar 
of  the  truth." 

For  these  reasons  the  well  balanced  minister  is 
not  ambitious  to  rush  inconsiderately  into  every  move- 
ment in  questionable  politics,  moral  reform  and  pre- 
tentious evangelism,  sprung  by  semi-religionists  and 
agitated  by  the  weak  minded  men  and  silly  women 
who  have  never  learned  the  first  principles  of  the 
doctrines  of  Christ.  He  keeps  in  mind  that  there 
is  a  line  of  proper  demarkation  between  the  Spirit 
and  the  flesh,  and  the  divine  and  the  human,  the 
sacred  and  the  secular.  With  St.  John,  he  is  disposed 
to  ' '  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God. ' '  He  rec- 
ognizes also  the  additional  fact  that  though  he  is  in  the 
world,  he  is  not  of  the  world.  His  conversation  or  citi- 
zenship is  in  heaven.  Like  Joseph's  fruitful  vine  his 
ministerial  influence  reaches  over  the  wall,  and  bears 
its  rich  clusters  on  the  outside  of  the  vineyard,  while 
he  continues  to  stand  like  a  vestal  virgin  close  to  his 
consecrated  altar  to  keep  the  true  fires  from  going  out, 
and  the  false  fires  from  coming  in.  His  apostolic 
commission  invests  him  with  neither  brains,  author- 
ity nor  desire  to  leap  into  every  seething  caldron 
of  popular  commotion.  He  reads  his  credentials  as 
calling  him  to  a  narrower,  nobler,  higher,  holier  sphere 
of  action.  With  Paul,  he  recognizes  proper  limit- 
ations to  the  scope  of  his  ministerial  activity,  and 
with  the  primitive  apostolate  in  general,  he  believes 
that  it  is  not  ' '  mete  that  he  should  leave  the  Word  of 
God  and  serve  tables. ' '  He  distinguishes  between  the 
world's  broad  field  of  action  and  the  more  specific 
realm   of   an   ordained   ambassador   of    Christ.     He 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  207 

does  not  forget  the  injunction  of  the  great  apostle 
to  the  Gentiles,  given  directly  to  Timothy,  and  neglects 
not  to  stir  up  the  special  gift  that  is  within  him,  and 
which  he  receives  by  prophecy  and  the  laying  on 
of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery,  and  therefore  gives 
himself  exclusively  to  the  duties  thus  assigned  him. 

Not  that  the  Christian  ministry  is  apt  to  under- 
take more  work  in  the  ^Master's  vineyard  than  what 
was  nominated  in  the  bond  of  its  apostolic  commis- 
sion; or  that  the  Church  is  in  danger  of  covering 
too  much  territory,  geographically,  socially,  or  ethi- 
cally considered.  The  field  is  the  world,  and  the  whole 
w^orld  is  included  in  the  field  to  be  sown  with  the 
unadulterated  seed  of  the  Word,  and  cultivated  for 
the  comming  great  harvest  of  redeemed  humanity. 
The  danger  lies  either  in  the  sowing  of  darnel  for 
the  wheat  of  the  Kingdom,  or  of  permitting  the 
plants  of  the  good  seed  to  be  hybridized  by 
mixing  with  the  tares  of  the  merely  nominal  Christian 
world.  This  is  really  the  danger  point  in  the  history 
of  the  development  of  our  Protestantism  under  the 
high  pressure  and  rapid  speed  methods  of  modern 
religiousness.  Let  the  danger  be  sounded  out  in  every 
trumpet  blast ! 

A  somewhat  similar  condition  of  things  jeopard- 
ized the  safety  of  the  Jewish  nation  for  three-quar- 
ters of  a  millennium  before  the  Lord's  first  advent. 
Abraham's  descendants  were  commanded  and  warned 
not  to  adulterate  their  life-stream  with  the  degenerate 
blood  of  surrounding  and  uncircumcised  nations,  and 
thus  fuse  their  faith  with  the  religious  abminations 
of  the  heathen.     The  commandment  was  disobeyed 


208  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  , 

and  the  warning  passed  unheeded.  The  cults  of  Ash- 
dod,  Ashtaroth  and  Baal  were  incorporated  into  the 
religion  of  God's  peculiar  people,  and  the  result  was 
a  mongrel  race.  Unless  these  days  of  popular  com- 
pounding and  confounding  of  Christianity  with 
humanism  be  shortened  for  the  elect 's  sake,  something 
similar  is  likely  to  become  the  baneful  inheritance 
of  God's  New  Testament  people.  At  present  it  is 
very  hard  to  draw  the  line  of  clear  distinction  between 
the  Church  and  the  world.  He  is  an  ideal  preacher, 
indeed,  who  can  properly  discern  the  signs  of  the 
times.  Superficial  skimming  over  the  surface  is  substi- 
tuted for  profouund  and  stalwart  thought  in  theology, 
and  undue  stress  is  laid  upon  the  social  element  that 
should  enter  only  as  an  essential  ingredient  into  the 
truly  Christian  community. 

My  Dear  Young  Brethren  of  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary :  This  may  be  my  farewell  address  to  you.  By 
virtue  of  virile  and  vigorous  blood  transmitted 
through  and  from  a  noble,  Scotch  and  Swish  ancestry, 
by  good  Christian  morals,  by  plain  and  regular  habits 
of  living,  by  human  industry,  hard  work  and  divine 
grace,  I  have  been  able  to  reach  and  pass  over  the 
summit  of  a  long  and  strenuous  life.  I  know 
not  how  long  I  may  continue  to  endure.  The  proba- 
bility is  that  the  great  hereafter  is  close  at  hand  for 
me.  Neither  is  it  impossible  that  the  full  consumation 
of  this  present  order  of  terrestrial  affairs  is  very  far 
in  the  distant  future.  If  already  1900  years  ago  the 
Seer  of  Patmos  heard  the  heavenly  announcement 
that  the  Lord  would  '^qiiicMy  come,"  how  much 
nearer  now  must  be  that  final  advent? 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  209 

Let  us  not  fail  to  discover  the  signs  of  the  times. 
The  powers  of  the  world  to  come  are  asserting  them- 
selves, and  the  seething  caldron  of  this  present  evil 
world  is  full  of  predictive  prophecy.  Let  him  that 
runneth  read  and  reflect.  Christian  scholarship 
should  study  the  significance  of  the  past.  Christian 
meditation  should  help  to  disclose  the  signs  of  the 
present  and  Christian  faith  should  be  able  to  hear 
the  rumblings  of  Immanuel's  chariot  wheels. 

Modern  history  is  full  of  lessons  for  the  devout 
student.  Restlessness  is  disturbing  the  planet  from 
Cancer  to  Capricorn.  Men's  hearts  are  beginning 
to  fail  them  on  account  of  those  things  which  are  to 
come  upon  the  earth.  All  the  ordained  powers  of 
— Heaven — the  family,  the  State  and  the  Church — 
are  being  shaken  from  the  center  to  circumference. 
We  are  evidently  nearing  the  culminating  Crisis  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  Men  are  running  to  and 
fro.  They  know  not  what  they  want.  They  only  sus- 
pect that  they  need  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  un- 
known God.  In  their  restlessness  and  disquietude 
they  are  sighing  and  therefore  seeking  and  searching 
for  something  to  redress  the  miseries  of  the  present 
and  give  a  more  golden  glow  to  their  dark  forebodings 
and  gloomy  anticipations  of  the  future. 

Look  over  the  field  of  the  world 's  false  diplomacy 
and  international  confusion.  Perplexity  befuddles 
the  croA^Ti,  befogs  the  court  and  bedamns  the  camp. 
The  armies  of  Europe  appall  the  world.  Their  millions 
of  embannered  battalions  throw  the  fabled  hosts  of 
Xerxes  into  the  diminutive  compass  of  the  Corporal's 
guard,  and  cause  them  to  vanish  away  behind  the 

14 


210  THE  IDEAL  PREACHER 

sombrous  shades  of  a  benighted  antiquity.  They 
march  and  countermarch  under  the  commandaries 
of  Earth's  petty  potentates,  while  they  unconsciously 
obey  the  orders  of  Him  who  is  God  of  battles  and 
the  giver  of  victories. 

Who  knows  the  exact  significance  of  the  Chapter 
that  the  word  is  now  writing  in  characters  of  blood? 
Who  can  fully  understand  the  full  meaning  of  a 
planet  incarnadined  in  crimson  hue?  "Such  knowe- 
edge  is  too  wonderful  for  me.  I  cannot  attain  there- 
to."  Neither  do  the  angels  clearly  understand  the 
stately  steppings  of  God  in  history.  This  much, 
however,  we  may  know:  the  unprecedented  world 
movements  stand  prophetically  related  to  the  impend- 
ing crisis  of  all  the  ages.  That  final  crisis  is  maturing. 
In  that  general  Armageddon  we  shall  all  have  apart. 
"Before  Him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations."  We 
have  all  been  called  to  the  colors.  "There  is  no 
escape  in  this  war."  The  armies  of  Anti-Christ 
are  marshalling  on  every  plain  and  storming  the 
Thermopylaes  of  every  mountain  pass,  while  the  sac- 
ramental hosts  of  God's  redeemed,  elect  are  emban- 
nering  themselves  on  Zion's  holy  hill. 

True  ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  expected  to  be 
at  the  front  and  on  the  firing  line.  There  is  nothing 
in  their  Apostalic  commission  that  should  prevent 
them  from  adapting  themselves  to  the  work  which  the 
Father  has  given  them  to  do.  This  work  they  can  and 
should  do  without  playing  the  babboon  for  an  effect- 
upon  the  fools  in  the  gallery.  Stage  thunder  is 
something  very  different  from  that  pulpit  lightning 
which  is  generated  in  the  upper  clouds  of  Celestial 


THE  IDEAL  PREACHER  211 

magnetism.  Neither  need  the  work  be  attempted  by 
any  of  the  modern  methods  of  carnal  might  and 
power,  but  "by  my  Spirit  saith  the  Lord." 

Young  Gentlemen:  put  on  the  whole  armor  of 
God.  Doff  the  armor  of  babboonish  darkness.  Un- 
sheath,  as  never  before,  ''the  Sword  of  the  Spirit 
which  is  the  work  of  God."  Cultivate  more  faith  in 
the  Gospel,  and  put  less  confidence  in  the  carnal 
contraptions  of  men.  Man's  extremity  is  God's  oppor- 
tunity. God's  opportunity  is  your  opportunity.  It 
is  a  great  opportunity.  Abraham  never  had  such  an 
opportunity.  He  would  have  rejoiced  to  have  seen 
your  day,  but  it  never  dawned  upon  his  patriarchal 
vision.  God  is  expecting  greater  things  frf>m  you 
than  Abraham  ever  accomplished.    Therefor, 

Perform  your  part  on  life's  great  stage, 
Perform  it  well  from  youth  to  age. 

And  may  the  lengthening  shadows  of  your  well- 
spent  years  bring  you  the  confirming  and  consoling 
consciousness  of 

Life's  race  well  run, 
Life's  work  well  done, 
Life's  victory  well  won. 

Then  may  you  reach  your  sickels  forth  to  the 
fields  of  heaven,  and  with  your  hands  immortal, 
pluck  ripe  clusters  from  the  vines  of  God. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1    1012  01210  8835 


